I have an ego wall in my office that I had my numbers pinned everywhere, so I got bored today and arranged them to look all nice and pretty… It includes bibs, some photos, medals, etc. So my ego is definitely stroked.
Well it seems that over the past 3 years in running and 1 year in triathlons, I have accumulated alot of stuff already and that got me wondering what everyone else does with their race memorabilia?
thanks
Kerry
My missus can’t decide on wall coverings for our laundry room… so I’m thinking of using all the ones that I have been sticking in a box… to wallpaper the laundry room…
I’ve only saved 2 bibs from memorable finishes. When I started running and racing I used to throw them into a box thinking I’d find something to do with them. Boy was I wrong. They’ve all since been thrown out.
Nice looking shirts/race prems on the other hand are being saved for a pending quilt.
Although I don’t do this personally, quite a few people get their race numbers\medals framed in a shadowbox along with some race pictures. Just this last x-mas, I had 5 or 6 spouses or girlfriends bring in their guy’s race stuff to be framed as a Christmas gift. One of them had 6 numbers, 3 medals, 2 swim caps and a dozen pictures arranged in a pretty cool (and rather large) frame. Another customer had an elaborate frame made for her husbands first marathon that included his finshers certificate and medal.
I am working on a set of three interlocking frames that have stuff from the swim, bike and run. When it’s done I’ll post pics - the center portion will have a chopped off rear half of a bike - wheel and cranks included. Should be cool…
Trash.
I staple them to the wall in my garage when I get home from a race. eventually I am going to need a bigger garage 
I keep my old du/tri bibs in a drawer in my office. After each race I record my times, weather conditions, etc. on the back of the bibs. I do a lot of the same races each year so this seems to be an easy, low tech way to track my results from year to year. I did have a shadow box made up with four bibs and medals from the marathons I’ve done. It’s hanging on my office wall. Customer always ask about it the first time they see it. Kind of helps to break the ice when you meet someone for the first time. John L
EVerything gets tossed in a big drawer, except I kept the IM stuff in a separate box. Maybe my kids will find something to look up to in it, someday when they go through my stuff. We can only hope.
I keep all my race bibs in a large ziplock with times written on the back. I guess a combination of nostalgia and record keeping. On occasion I will purchase a couple of race pictures if they are particularly good. One for my office “I love me” wall, and one for home.
I cut mine up and use them for “boots” in my spare tube pouch. Often when you get a glass cut into the casing the little tire boot reinforces the tire and doesn’t effect the balance. G
As far as medals trophies and T-shirts I have put on a couple of “track meets” at the local special education school and gave out trophies and shirts, kind of neat seeing one of my shirts at the mall on one of the kids. Now I just give my shirts to homeless dudes. If you see Triathlon shirts on homeless dudes in Hawaii that was me. G
I keep them in a file in the basement. Once every few years, I look at the numbers (I put information such as time, place, date, notes on the back). I have over 1,000 numbers (been racing since 1983 or so – including a few years where I raced every single weekend - often more than once - and I would race in anything from a 5K to a canoe race to anything else).
He saves everything!!! I opened a drawer in his dresser and found over 200 race swim caps in all colors! There must be at least 20 Timex watches on his dresser. Plaques, trophies, race posters, race programs, Tshirts, finishers medals, magazines,and on… Let’s not even talk about the equipment in the garage!
We do have a shadowbox coffee table with a nice collage of Ironman Hawaii memorabilia.
I think we could start our own triathlon museum!
Support Crew
About fifteen years after my amateur swimming career ended, I dumped all my medals because I couldn’t hardly remember which ones were from which meets. I had written times and dates on some of them, but they just didn’t mean anything anymore. The past isn’t where I want to spend my time.
So now I race for the joy of racing, through out the bib number as soon as I get done, and I don’t even take the t-shirt unless it’s really sweet.
I have two race numbers that I keep, one from my first marathon, and one from a road race that I put on and participate in with the help of countless volunteers.
-SD
I generally give them to my godson, who likes to come out and watch me race. I’ll write the date and my time on the back, and then whatever he does with them is his business. I think I saw one of them on his bedroom wall, but I don’t quite remember.
when I started running the numbers were cloth, not plastic or paper. I still have a number of those which I sewed into bags for my fishing reels - first marathon bib bag holds a fly reel, first ultra a light spinning reel, etc.
Since then I’ve kept a few numbers from major races only. I had the Boston number framed with a photo and the race medal. Mostly I pitch stuff these days. Medals go to my sons, who dispose of them as they see fit. The teddy bear won his age group at the last race and wore the medal proudly to bed…
I wish I would have written the date/race/distance on the back of all of them
Trust me, you don’t …
… would have provided an interesting history…
Yeah, of a downward spiral.
Race numbers; in the garbage. Medals give them to the kids at the finish. Teeshirts, I love them and save them all
when I started running the numbers were cloth, not plastic or paper.
were they in Roman numerals? Well, at least you didn’t have to carry a chiseled piece of rock around your neck. Next,someone is going to tell us about the out-and-back races they did that were uphill in both directions, right?
Just giving you a hard time ; ) Cheers
I write my times on the back, put them on a metal ring and hang them on a wall in the den. Kind of like a rolladex. I saw a cool picture in an old Runner’s World magazine where a guy took all his bibs to a tailor and had them made into a running jacket. Very cool.