Congratulations, you won! A look at medals for runners.

Last August, I got to participate in the Bird-in-Hand half marathon...the one runners might know as the Lancaster County, PA race featured in Runner's World magazine.  The one you get to run with the Amish (pronounced AH-mish, not AY-mish.)  

It was a particularly hot day and I wasn't well trained, but I wanted to do it anyway. A relatively small race, it runs through a hilly course with beautiful scenery, including Amish families who come out en masse to watch the crazy "English" and their Amish brethren run this foot race.  (Truly is a sight to behold to see the men run in polyester pants, short sleeved button downs and suspenders; the women run in their handmade dresses, aprons and bonnets!  But, I digress....)

Afterwards, my family took advantage of going to the Farmer's Market across the street.  We are suckers for food of any kind and wanted to see what goodies this market might offer. 

You won!

As we paused to look into a case of cheese, the woman behind the counter exclaimed, "OH!  Congratulations!  YOU WON!"   I looked around and realized, yep, she was talking to me. 

Ironically, this was my "reverse PR," my worst time ever, and I was kind of embarrassed about my time.  In fact, I ended up walking the last three miles because of the heat and undertraining.  And, while a part of me wanted to say, "Yes. Yes, I did win," and take in all the accolades,  I couldn't lie.  What if, in fact, the actual winner was at the next stand looking at the pickled eggs?  

So, I said, "No, ma'am.  They give these to every finisher. I most certainly didn't win."  And, she said, "Well, you are a winner in my book for even doing it."  (Aww...cue the good feelings and the need to purchase something from this woman!) 

Me and My Medals

I thought of this story as I went to take a photograph of my medals today.  I wouldn't ordinarily take photos of my medals; I just thought it would make a good photo for the blog and my Facebook cover page. 

I've always had this odd, uncomfortable connection to my medals because--in my mind--there is that part that says, "Only the top three get medals."  And, heck...I'm almost 50 years old.  What the heck am I to do with these things?  It's not like I show up at the Giant Supermarket with them hanging around my neck.  (Although, I have heard stories of those who do!)

When I got my first medal, I hung it on my bedroom mirror since I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  And, that's where the rest have ended up....in order, with pieces of tape on the back marking my times.  As I get older, I know my approximate finish times, but if I want to be sure, they're right there!

So, today, when I went to get out the medals for their photo op, I started thinking more about my medals and medals in general.  As I laid out each one, I had (mostly) fond memories.  Things that were pushed to the back of my mind suddenly jumped out at me.  I remembered my first half and how I went out way too fast (until mile 8, that is!)......I remembered how cold (or hot) it was for this particular race...and how I was feeling on that day.   And, I got all these warm feelings about these 12 halfs, 1 full, 1 relay, 2 10K's and 2 10-milers. 

How many medals are handed out each year?

But, that also got me to thinking about medals in general.  How many freaking medals must be handed out each year?  I couldn't find a statistic on that (I'll keep looking!) but I came across some really interesting other statistics about running that I thought I'd share. 

First, according to an interview on NPR in 2011, the number of people running marathons has QUADRUPLED SINCE 2000.  (Anecdotally, I have heard that many race directors are reporting an increase in race registrations since this year's Boston Marathon, so that number will most likely increase more!)

There are more than 500 marathons worldwide each year and in 2011, more than 518,000 people finished a marathon.  (So, yes, that means if you have finished one, you are still less than 1% of the population!)  

The average finish times are 4:32:08 for men and 5:06:08 for women.  (Note the previous statistics were from Wikipedia. Please don't tell anyone that I teach research paper writing and would freak if any of my students did that!)

And, those are just marathon finishers.  Add in all the halfs, 10-milers, 10K's, 5k's who give medals and, let's just say....that's A LOT of medals.   

In the end....

In the end, they aren't trivial awards like I once thought they were.  They represent the memories...the good times....the struggles....the relationships....and the hard work that goes into being a runner.  And, it's OK to be at the back of the pack and still get one!

For those of you who don't share the same warm feelings towards your medals, you can donate them.  Here's a link to one organization: http://medals4mettle.org/.  (And, note there are no Central PA chapters....hmmmm.....might just have to change that!)

Keep on moving forward!