In my old apartment, and later in my condo, I had a wall devoted to my Running Achievements. Specifically, it held the framed marathon certificates and the medals I received from completing various races. At first, it was just marathons but over the years, smaller races decided to give finisher medals as well. When we moved into the house, I left the certificates in the moving box, thinking one day I would find an appropriate place for them. The medals went on this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckdSHc3JCyeKLn0fi_Rh3XwLy696up4NFBS8N9mRNvSMQSqWar6jMCZpcej4TrUx-Wm9UUfJ3x41HYQG-iS7k2gjjJm0zHYlbKWGuNBEnM9UHOZmU8XuYgdrVswrBI3hkHpYfvtxCK3SPlPZSQllj9skQb6Rm82KurfkOntn-nvenHO3VJJetr1kfeQ/s320/254F533F-6273-4AE3-AFD8-EE8649434E17.JPG) |
I paid $5-10 for it at a garage sale I drove past during lunchtime when I worked out in Oak Brook Terrace. |
Now that we've moved to Mississippi, I've decided to purge a lot of things. I was going to just put up the certificate from my best race, the Spirit of St Louis Marathon in 2006 where I ran a 3:29:54, along with a few medals from other milestone races. But then the challenge was, how do I pick?
My first marathon? sure. My best Chicago Time? My International Marathons? Too many to choose from.
And then one of the daily deal emails I got had a coupon code for a discount at a place that makes custom metal things, especially medal holders. It would have cost $80 for the two but with the discount code it dropped to $53, so I pulled the trigger and ordered them.
So I decided to make another shrine to running. And I'm certain my runner nickname will give my brother-in-law Jethro something else (that concerns him not the least) to be upset about (he cannot stand that my vanity license plate has Chicago in it).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGq5knQICplkff8kvcNhcrvNeUTuaDVyT5wekL1FKbFyMS5obyXwArRVYnGmuLgEH5Uxi85q64M_usC09a9d6hu0IrqIQ3N6Ok9DB2Gvbg7-zeX8FMwcpEv1M2h25VQXcXD3nCjUEpYXgStMEhMLjxvb7PWt6KE0FHRrlUvYBrlC9cfipTFgPtRA9fNg/s320/IMG_1415.HEIC) |
These cost a bit more |
It took a few weeks for my medal holder to arrive and when they did, I didn't exactly have the energy I had when I started this project in my head. But I started slow. First I added the Personal Best and then built everything around it. Not every certificate is going up, just the more meaningful ones. This is mostly because I didn't always invest in good frames and don't want to now. And also because I only have so much wall space to work with. I'm not sure how many medals I will put up.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsAR5pm3JIgZhorr9ibpC-hb2AShSNBtkzVVxcQgdlZOefquzB_ga0Gei7LvzA6tSrd8sqOFNmOOmWHKtzTAVZdl3mjWeEbiOUPGCeevOiPqssTTYu_UL0zeET9zHl4cevmCwoBO4NVk9h0oP72UebIBTvfLRYZC53SFzYbyy7lmH9oVoCpfxvKG1QWA/s320/IMG_1429.HEIC) |
Also rearranged the office a bit |
I've also saved almost every racing big and a variety of Teflon blankets that they hand out post-race. I always thought I could do something cool with those. For now, they will go back in the smaller box and be stored somewhere out of sight. And when I shed this mortal coil, I want my family to dispose of this stuff as they see fit. No need to keep it around and create any unwanted clutter.
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