…all your racing bibs?  I’m a little fuzzy on how my collection started but I remember that I used to put my bibs and any medals on a cork board I had in my bedroom.  The board was on a wall that I saw when I first opened my peepers in the morning.  Now this was back when I had my own life (and it didn’t revolve around two little ego maniacs!) but the downside was I had a full-time job – GASP!!!!  I had to wake-up at 4:30 or 5am to get my runs in so, as incentive, I placed my running bibs right in my sleepy face so they would motivate me to get my lazy ass out of bed and hit the pavement!  Seeing those shiny medals and racing bibs was like seeing the prize money (prize money I would never get but hey, I was still dreaming).  It was the culmination of all the hard training – the race!  The bling!  So I started saving  them.

I don't even want to think how much $$ all these races add up to!

I don’t even want to think how much $$ all these races add up to!

Somewhere along the way, I wrote the date, my time and if I placed on them.  I wish I had started doing this earlier because I would really love to see what my very first 5K time was.  I know I came in 12th overall and they didn’t give ribbons for 12th place Focker.  It was a small race for a friends children’s school and I had no clue how to race at that time.

Sometimes I write things like “HOT AS HELL” just so I know why I had the sucky time.  Not that I could forget.  I pretty much remember each race like my delivery of the twins!…and some of them were about that difficult…no, not really.  If they were I probably would never race again!  It’s funny how people compare running a marathon to childbirth.   Have you heard this?  It actually gave me a spark of hope before I delivered the twins.  I mean, running a marathon is absolutely hard and daunting and painful but totally do-able.  I remember thinking that if childbirth (even with twins!) is like a marathon then I totally got this.  Well, I wish I could remember who those people were so I could get them alone in a room for a while.  I would have rather run a marathon in the desert with a teaspoon of water and only Miley Cyrus songs on my iPod then go through labor and a c-section ever again.  But I digress…

Sometimes you get lucky #69 and run a 5K PR!

Sometimes you get lucky #69 and run a 5K PR! So it was 3 years ago…what?

When I opened my personal training studio, VITA – Train for Life (catchy name, right?) I started putting all my bibs on a half-wall that was close to the ceiling in the center of the studio.  They were there, but out of the way a bit.  One of my favorite things to do was get out my ladder and add another bib to the wall.  It was like adding memories.  Adding building blocks of training.  Adding new adventures.  And, likewise, when I sold my studio two years ago, I waited until the absolute last day to take them all down because it was the saddest task I had to complete.  I knew I would find a place for them at my home but it just wouldn’t be the same.  As my studio had grown, so had my racing bibs.

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The VITA Wall of Fame.
Why do I have so many pictures of the #69 bib? #weird

 

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On the back wall by the spin bike was the shine to the Boston Marathon race. It had everything but velvet ropes.

They all now grace a wall in my garage.  I like that I see them each and every time I get in and out of my car – which is all the time! I also like the ease with which I can look up a PR in any given race.  No need to search the inter webs for race results…I just walk out to my garage.  My only hope is that I can run and race long enough to cover the garage with memories, adventures and the times of my life!

Now what am I going to do with all the racing t-shirts?

What do you do with your racing bibs?  Would you rather run a marathon or give birth?

 

 

 

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