It\u2019s a competitive currency of the running world. Does anyone else sign up for a race and look for the medal straight away? See what the next piece bling is going to be hung round our necks once we cross the finish line? <\/p>\n
What I love is that it\u2019s all about those finish lines, not finish times. We all run the same distance and you all get the same shiny piece of metal, which means the world to you at that very moment in time.
\nIt\u2019s a motivator, it\u2019s emotional, it is a reward to ourselves for all our hard work. It\u2019s that sign that you\u2019ve achieved another goal and you should all feel extremely proud when it\u2019s given to you at the end of every race, especially when you can look back at it and say \u2018I did that!\u2019.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something that we get to keep forever and remind ourselves of a time when, we worked hard for something, we sweat blood and tears to get to the finish line\u2026..ok, not so much blood but I have finished races with blood sodden trainers before! After this happening more than once, I never forget to cut the toenails down before a run. Taking your trainers off to a replay of the Amityville horror, you know, the bit with the blood running down the walls (ok maybe a bit over-dramatic) is something I don\u2019t want to keep reliving! <\/p>\n
That feeling of elation, when you cross that line and a smiley volunteer puts that medal round your neck is worth all the training\u2026.the rain, the cold, the painful calves & hamstrings and hours of physio, all for that one glorious moment! <\/p>\n
So what do I do with mine once I\u2019ve finished a run? They\u2019re dotted around the house, shoved in various cupboard and drawers\u2026\u2026..Until now\u2026. The lovely chaps at medaldisplays.co.uk have sent me a medal hanger for me to pop all my lovely medals onto. Fair play, the hanger is superb quality, nice and sturdy and I\u2019ve started pulling out all my medals from various hiding places to hang up on it. I think I\u2019d forgotten some of the races I had done and seeing the medals again brings it all back. For me, I think it will be a lovely reminder of moments to go back on. The race, the people I ran it with, the euphoria of us all earning the same medal, the joy, the bragging rights and most importantly a reminder that YOU did it. Those medals represent a lot of time out on the road and in Diva Sport working hard to get there. I still haven\u2019t got round to hanging it up yet but it looks simple enough even for me! <\/p>\n
Do you remember their very first medal? I do. Having run for years pretty much every other day, I\u2019d never actually entered a race, so I signed up to my first 10k. Got there not knowing what to expect, ran the race, got across the finish line and was handed a white unprinted plastic bag, no smiley volunteer was waiting with an armful of medals to greet me as I crossed the line. I still remember to this day what the bag contained. Bottle of water (standard) and always appreciated at the finish line, a \u2018fun size\u2019 mars bar (Fun size? Not even a mouthful. Where\u2019s the fun in that? I inhale food after a run, so the fun size mars bar wasn\u2019t even getting close!)\u2026. Some bumf about other run events and then hiding at the corner of the bottom of the bag, lonely and feeling rejected, a medal the size of a \u00a31 coin, which had been hand tied with the biggest knot into the sliver of thin blue ribbon. As small as it was, I had a medal. My first one! I still have it now and yes, it will be going on my super new medal display hanger! <\/p>\n
So what\u2019s your next medal going to be? For me, I\u2019m going to the Royal Welsh Trail running festival on 21st May. I\u2019ll be running the trail half marathon with the lovely Becca & Hannah from Run Wales. This is for all of us our very first trail run. We have all bought trial running shoes, we\u2019ve started running off-road to get some training in, bearing in mind we only have 4 weeks to go until the race! We will also be blogging about the event, so keep an eye out for an update and of course a photo of the medal, which is wooden, so this will be my first non-blingy medal, that\u2019s if I don\u2019t get lost in the wilderness first!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How much do we all love that little piece of metal that\u2019s given to us at the end of a run? It\u2019s a competitive currency of the running world. Does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n