Hello one, hello all! Today I want to chat about the beautiful allure of obtaining medals that I have (and hopefully you have, as I don’t want to be alone) in races.
Nice race you got here, but where is my medal?
This thought crossed my mind a year ago when I was browsing through the fixtures of races in my country for the year. I went through the usual checklist:
Location? Nearby, nice.
Distance? Ohhh a marathon with an option of a half… I like it!
Date? Not too far away, but enough time to train efficiently for.
Price? Very fair! This is sounding like a good idea!
Medal? NO, why isn’t there a medal?! What are they giving to finishers instead?!? A T-SHIRT!? I have enough technical t-shirts, what about a medal? Why isn’t there a medal!? Might have to let this one go past until next year then..
*Breathes*
I would like to say that this is made up and is a joke… But it isn’t. I really did think this, I really do still think this, and as much as I would like to just run a race, to run the race, deep down in that horrible little egotistical head of mine, I need the verification of a piece of metal or plastic or wood to make me feel like I achieved something, but why?
WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT A MEDAL?
I first thought that obtaining a medal after you finished a race was because I wanted to emulate those brilliant humans at the Olympics who got their medals, to feel a small type of connection with these people who could run distances and times that 99.9% of the world could only dream of. But then I settled down and realised, that only three of those runners in each gender got a medal. What about 4th? They don’t get a medal and I usually finish a trillion places below that, so I shouldn’t deserve a medal either.
Then it came to me, I want to show off about what I accomplished, even in this world where there are more races and participants than ever before in the history of this planet. I want to show everyone, anyone who would look that I have achieved something. I finished that 10k, half marathon, marathon or even an ultra. I did it and this medal is proof that I did it. This medal that I can hang on my wall and look at and think I am amazing. Is that wrong? Am I selfish to think a medal is a be-all and end-all of running a race? Isn’t just running the race enough? Crossing that line, having your time logged, before cheered on at that finish or throughout the course by strangers, isn’t that what I kept running for?
So what if I only get a t-shirt for my efforts, I might not be able to frame it as easily or show it off to others and more importantly myself, but I completed the race and I should be proud. But after this happened after one race, I remember coming out of it deeply disappointed, to the point that I hang around too long after the finish (I try to stay a little bit to cheer on fellow runners). Thinking back now, that was truly stupid and I shouldn’t have let it affect me that much. It was just a race afterall.
AM I BEING ARROGANT OVER A MEDAL?
Then came an even bigger problem, I had started to get annoyed at some big races, conjuring up these mediocre medals. In my head, I was thinking, ‘I have just run 26.2 (never forget that .2) miles and all I get is this stupid looking medal? I guess it will do but, jeez, way to care little for your runners’.
Again, another really thought that I had, I now know that this was very foolish and that if a big race with a budget only gives that type of medal then so be it. I got my medal and I shouldn’t be expecting the most wonderful medal in the world. I mean, for example, the two medals that I ran the hardest and most for are quite modest and in a way, thinking about it… I like that, they are modest and so should I be about my running. I am not the fastest, I did not truly earn a medal finishing as far back as I do. The fact that organisers give out medals is a lovely bonus, and it shouldn’t be a right. But, jeez, aren’t they great when you do get one?
If you enjoyed this post let me know and I can make it a little series! If you want to chat more about any of my posts, please follow me on Twitter, Instagram and also to receive updates, Until next time, thanks for reading and I hope to see you again soon!
Scott H Gilliland 