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Public Service Announcement: Race Medals

by 25 Comments

Last Updated on September 29, 2019 by Heather Hart, ACSM EP, CSCS

It’s no secret, I love my race medals. I won’t say it’s the ENTIRE reason I race (I genuinely love to run and compete, against myself and others), but I really really enjoy that finishers medal at a finish line. And I love to display and collect them. Reminders of my accomplishments, and how far I’ve come as a runner. Laugh if you want, some people collect purses or salt and pepper shakers (I swear, I’ve seen that before)…I collect race medals.

So as a medal lover and self-proclaimed ambassador of all things race-bling…I feel it is my job to bring some light to this important issue at hand. And that is the proper care and display of our prized finishers medals.

After posting the contest to win an Allied Running Medal Hanger, my inbox was flooded with pictures of your current medal displays. And let me say, kids, you should be ashamed of yourselves! These poor, poor race medals. If I could put this blog to a sappy sad Sarah McLachlan song like those sad ASPCA commercials that I can’t watch without crying, I would . OK, I’m exaggerating slightly, but still. You get the idea. Check these out…names withheld to protect the guilty parties involved.

First lets start with the medals that are shunned from the light of day.

We have them hung in the closet

Hidden under a Christmas tree. In September (I’m just saying…)

Suffocating stuffed into a plastic bag

Buried below jackets and handbags

Shoved in desk drawers….

Shoved in shoe boxes…

And…is that an underwear drawer??

Then, there are those of you who, well, you are trying. Curtain rods…

Car key/mail holder

Doorknobs…

Trophies…


Uhhh not sure what this is, but at least they aren’t in a drawer…

Then, we have the “A for AWESOME effort” group. Medals displayed proudly for the world to see!

And these two…”A for ADORABLE” !! Say it with me now, awwww 🙂 The future of running right here!



Please, if you or someone you know has medals suffering the same plight of a lonely life in a shoe box under the bed, visit Allied Running Medal Hangers TODAY.

Or, if you genuinely do not care for your race bling (I can not fathom it), or just want to do a good deed (yaay!)…consider sending them off to Medals 4 Mettle, a non profit organization who will pass your medal onto someone suffering from disease, handicap, or other challenge. Your medals could put a smile on someone else’s face !

And without further ado….the winners of the Allied Running Medal Hanger giveaway are….

drum roll please….
The pink hanger goes to entry #252, Stacie at “Impossible is Nothing“

and the marathon hanger goes to entry #4, Christine at “Rockey Roads”

Random.org did well on this one!! Both have offending medal misconduct in the above pictures, so these ladies deserve the hangers!

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for entering! And thank you for letting me share your medal pictures with the world!

And if you didn’t win, it’s not too late to put a medal hanger on your Christmas list! Tell your loved ones! They are even having a SALE on select hangers right now.

So remember friends, happy running…and take care of your medals!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I recognize the Vancouver Half medal in the second photo 🙂 And is that Miss Chloe? Definitely A for Adorable!!
    I should have sent a pic, mine are shoved into the storage container with all my non-pregnancy work clothes LOL I really need to get them out and put them up, I just can’t think where/how to display them!!
    Congrats to the winners!!

    Reply

  5. I ran a half marathon (basically for the medal) and we got a sticker. What??? So disappointing. Of course, that has to be the race with my current PR. A sticker really??

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  6. Aww what a great post!!
    Congrats to the winners 🙂

    It is so sad to see multiple BOSTON medals in a box…tsk tsk tsk! I think I would walk around with those on ALL THE TIME!

    Alright…Im off to Allied now to get mine since I did not win. The only problem-WHICH ONE??

    Reply

  8. Boy there are some great ideas in this post, bahahahaha. But, since I have Chloe will just keep forcing hte kid to wear my medals around especially when we have guests, lol. Ok a gorgeous display rack might be more practical :). Oh and to the girl that got a sticker at the end of her race, what the heck??? Whoever heard of that. Oh Heather there was an entire podcast on Endurance Planet on the races with the best bling. Thought of you the entire time.

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  9. Hopefully I’ll be getting my first medal (half marathon) on Nov 7 in Manchester NH and I plan on wearing that puppy around for a week or two. After that, it will go where I can see it, no shoe box for me.

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  12. This is the coolest company ever–I emailed them to see if they would consider doing a Running Mom or Running Mama hanger and they’re putting it up on the site! I’m buying one as an early Christmas present to myself 🙂

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  19. I’m so excited!!! What’s sad is I keep finding more medals to add to my collection. Thankfully, I’ll have a new home for them. Thanks for the great giveaway!!! I loved all the pics.

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  20. I am not sure if I should be happy or embarrassed that 2 of the photos were mine!!!Congrats to the winners. I too was surprised to see that there were multiple Boston medals in the shoebox…Then again, my first full marathon medal is in the shoebox pic above it. My subsequent full marathon medal is displayed on top of a bookcase, with the ribbon nicely folded underneath next to my first tri medals. I was seriously bummed that my first olympic tri didn’t have a medal. I think a sticker is lame, but would at least liked to have something for my first olympic tri. I loved the lamp. That is awesome!

    Reply

  22. How fun! What great pictures. I enjoyed picking out which medals I recognized and which ones I have. I was especially excited to see a Brooksie Way medal (hanging next to some paper plates) as that’s a great local race here in Michigan.

    Oh, and I am also very much a medal whore. I opted not to do a 30K this year because last year’s medals were totally cheap and I’m now considering the full at Flying Pig in May instead of the half partly because I really like the pink ribbon on the full’s medal (the half is brown).

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  23. yay for the winners!

    haha… i am so ashamed that everyone saw me suffocating my medals in the plastic bag lol… my bad!

    I’m working on someplace to put them tho! lol

    Reply

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