Thanks for sharing. I like yours :)

Serious question for you or whomever: why do you keep the bibs??? It has never even occurred to me to keep those and hence they were all recycled. Medals, ribbons, plaques, and trophies are on a shelf and desk in the corner of my bedroom, and/or in a drawer in my dresser. However, I do have a couple of awards from my civilian and military careers on the mantle over the fireplace in my living room.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I tossed a lot of my participation medals, the rest are tossed in a drawer. I suppose my heirs will have to deal with them. The only thing I have displayed is the picture of me crossing the finish at the AG nationals in Omaha.

Thank you!

Each to their own - to display or not to display.

I love my medals (all finisher medals, never even podiumed), and they certainly bring back memories so I'm keeping them. My daughter made me a display rack which is cool, so that's where they're staying!

My bibs are all tucked away in a bag - any examples of cool ways to display/store these?

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

What kind of rack did your daughter make for you?

Would she try this?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fmQk1zz4mkbP4Ojo1

That is quite cool - maybe if I'd won anything, I might go that far. I'll post a photo of the rack later - it's more cumbersome than a shoe box, but pretty special.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

I generally recycle all of mine. I don't really need them to enjoy triathlons and in fact I won't take another finisher metal to make sure all those behind me who may want one more than me get theirs.

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2018 Races: IM Santa Rosa, Vineman Monte Rio, Lake Tahoe 70.3

That's generous. I am certain the organizers produce more than they need (at least up to number of registered participants). Its hard to predict how many people shows up and how many people finish the races.

I've never seen a participant give up their finisher medal (at least in the finisher area all athletes are generally still wearing their medals).

I was thinking of another word.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Those medals are currently in the sock drawer, one drawer above all my Ironman ones ;-)

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29 years and counting

My kids play with them until the trophies disappear or have been destroyed ... well, and those I want to keep just go into a box in the basement.

[quote ericmulk
Serious question for you or whomever: why do you keep the bibs???.[/quote]
As noted in an earlier post, I only have a few taped to my wall. Basically, My 1'st win was the West Point Duathlon. It was also my son's 1'st ever "adult" duathlon. When I'm sitting at my desk and look over at my wall, it brings a smile to my face remembering that day. Another one is #1 and was from a 5k race my son put on to raise money for his Eagle Scout Project. I won that race as well and he raised enough money to fund his project.

^This

Mine are all stored away somewhere. OTOH, over her objection I made this for my wife. It hangs in our basement workout area as a reminder to the kids of what you can accomplish if you dedicate yourself to a goal.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

The King :-)

You seem to have taken offence at the fact that others don't share your reverence for the medals, which is unfortunate but I think you've misread the attitude behind it which is unfortunate. I can only speak for myself but I from what I've read I suspect most others feel the same:

I do NOT think it's shameful to keep or display medals at home. I just don't personally see much point. The events were important to me, but the medals are not. If the medals are part of the memory for you and thus of significant value, I have no intention of being derogatory about that. I can respect your preferences without sharing them.

The fact you assume those who don't value or display medals would have a tattoo or bumper sticker seems very odd to me - and leads me to think you've misunderstand something. Surely if someone doesn't see the point in putting one type of physical reminder on display, there's a good chance it goes for others too? Why would you assume otherwise? Sorry, I don't follow your logic.
If I was to assume anything it would be that those who get a tattoo would be very likely to also have medals on display!
Personally, I have medals in a bag as mentioned previously and I wouldn't dream of getting a tattoo or using a bumper sticker. But then I have zero tattoos and zero bumper stickers and that's not likely to change.

Incidentally, I do have a couple of IM mugs and pint glasses. I don't mind them since they serve a purpose besides what's written on them. They're nice to have but I'm not going to get upset if they get broken. Do whatever you like!

Here's the one I purchased from Allied Medal Hangers on Amazon.

Here's the one my daughter made for me.

A colleague made me a medal tree out of metal. It actually looks more like a shrub. My wife and I put our finisher's medals on that. We do that for a few reasons - one is that we didn't know about the charity (great idea) at the time we had the tree made, and the other is that it is a way for us to display to our young children the value and accomplishment of physical activity.

I have only one tri AG award (medal), which I have in a shadowbox with the swim cap and a photo of me crossing the finish. This was my first race after being off for a year due to a TBI suffered in a race, so it had extra significance to me. I have lots of running awards, and those find their way to a closet or the trash.

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Attacking this day with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.

my participation medals and podium placings are in various "junk" boxes or kids' toy drawers, but after seeing some of the setups in this thread, i may be motivated to pull them together and create a bit of my own lame shrine in the pain cave. It's funny when i used to race and place well i didnt really care about medals and trophies, but years later, now that I'm middle of the pack and struggle to get a half hour run in, I kind of appreciate it a bit more and could use the motivation. Nothing shameful about putting together your own display - at the end of the day, that is all we have as a tangible to represent all the time away from family and money spent on this crazy sport!

Nice!

Nothing wrong with saving and displaying medals & bibs, especially those from personally significant (and memorable) events.

As noted in an earlier post, I only have a few taped to my wall. Basically, My 1'st win was the West Point Duathlon. It was also my son's 1'st ever "adult" duathlon. When I'm sitting at my desk and look over at my wall, it brings a smile to my face remembering that day. Another one is #1 and was from a 5k race my son put on to raise money for his Eagle Scout Project. I won that race as well and he raised enough money to fund his project.[/quote]
Thanks, I've never won a race OA (came in 2nd OA once but that's the closest i've managed) but i could see how a person might want to save those bibs.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I just looked

Volume One: 1982-1995
Volume Two: 1996-2010
Volume Three: 2011-present


Easy answer is: I'm an old fdude, and when I started racing, there were no "everyone gets a finisher medal" protocols in place, so they're the only mementos I have from those early days [I never won anything, believe it or not #MOP4life]. Plus, I wrote my times & placings on the backs; as you can gather from the length of my "career" not all my results are in Athlinks ... more of them are NOT, actually

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

my wife knew how much running Boston marathon meant to me, so framed a picture, Boston bib, and the medal as a gift.. that hangs in my study. Similar to tallswimmer's display.
I liked that well enough that I asked for a similar frame with my 11 Two Oceans medals, and pictures from the first run age 18, to the last one age 30. One medal was stolen so 11 not 12..

No tri medals on display anywhere, have a couple in the sock drawer.. bibs from the two Worlds I went to, and a pacer bib from Leadville 100, hang over the sweaty gear hooks in the basement.