That is my coworkers finishers medal from the 1984 Detroit Free Press Marathon. He ran the event four or five times with a personal best of 3:21.
He remembers vividly the first year they gave those out and says that at the time finishers medals were a foreign concept. He laughed and said, "Who gets a medal for just finishing a race?!".
Of course finishers medals are all the rage now but as I am quick to point out to him that like the runners of his era, today's runners run to be the best and fastest that they can be, regardless of a medal.
The shirt, finishers medals and other trinkets are just a part of the pomp and circumstance but for the most part we are no different than they were 30 years ago.
Finishers medals obviously have come a long way as my 2012 medal from Detroit illustrates below, but we train just as hard as they did and suffer the same heartaches of missed PR's, qualifying times and injuries so the only thing that really separates us is technology and time.
No different than anything else in life when you are comparing eras.
Sup?
The shorts were quite different too!
Running club fun tonight in 90+ degrees, I can't wait to see how much I can sweat. I did a 32.2 mile bike ride yesterday!
What is the 2012 medal lying on? A computer on its side? I always found participant trophies a little odd. I feel the same way about finisher's medals.
i always take a full day off every week. I'm thinking since I ran a shorter long run Sunday, I might go without my break day and have some kind of two week streak. My longest streak is probably 8 days.
Yesterday I ordered Daniels' Running Formula-3rd Edition on Amazon.ca. Since there is free shipping on orders 25$ and up, I also ordered Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention. Dunno if that second book will be any good...
You Rang?
Morning dailies! I just got back from 3.4 miles in the beautiful city of Boston. I ran down Boylston St. (yes, that Boylston St.) to the Public Garden, up Beacon Hill, past the sausage factory under the Golden Dome, around the Common and then back to my hotel.
I love the old marathon finishers medal photos. My how those things have changed. My brother tries to badmouth me when he sees my finisher's medals displayed on the railing of the stairway of my house. "What kind of trophy is it if everybody gets one?" I told him that I'd start listening to him once he had one. As an athletically disinclined kid, I look on my finishers medals with sense of pride and remember the work that went into getting the hunk of brass on a nylon ribbon. I did something bigger than myself.
Rick
PR: 5k 25:01 (10/15) 10k: 57:44 (7/14) HM: 1:57 (5/15) FM: 4:55 (1/15)
That thing looks more like a little charm to put on a bracelet, but it's hard to tell the scale in the photo.
7 w/ 3 @ tempo coming up.
Hello to all my running buddies! Very cool medals, Rick. I have nothing against finishers medals. I know exactly what they mean, which is that I finished, not that I won. I like them for what they are: a souvenir of something that was hopefully meaningful the day the medal was handed out to me.
Still away from home. I haven't run in the last three days and I do not even feel guilty about it. Well... that's not true. Sometimes I have an anxiety attack which lasts about 2 minutes and has me thinking that my body has completely forgotten how to run and that I will have to start from scratch when I lace up again. But then I slap myself out of this foolishness and I order another ale and all is fine again! Today isn't raining, so I may go for a run. Or not. We will be driving back home on Saturday.
Have a great day everyone!
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
delicate flower
'Morning, reminiscenters! I'm flashing back to yesterday, when I blew off my run because I was tired and achy, then went to bed early and slept 10 hours. That was a good time...much needed.
I've got a (you guessed it) meeting to attend all day today. Not sure how late it'll go, but I've got my gear packed for a run afterwards. Go team.
<3
'Morning, reminiscenters! I'm flashing back to yesterday, when I blew off my run because I was tired and achy, then went to bed early and slept 10 hours. That was a good time...much needed. I've got a (you guessed it) meeting to attend all day today. Not sure how late it'll go, but I've got my gear packed for a run afterwards. Go team.
You can sleep longer than the toddlers I work with. I am so impressed by your sleeping ability! I wanna be like you when I'm 85 years old.
Morning! 10 miles this morning with MP miles and 1000s thrown in. Breathing was bad at the end but they were done. Pilates and more miles tonight.
I am off to take the car to the body shop for fixing, but I'll be back!
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
Fundraising Page
Morning! 10 miles this morning with MP miles and 1000s thrown in. Breathing was bad at the end but they were done. Pilates and more miles tonight. I am off to take the car to the body shop for fixing, but I'll be back!
You're a running machine, woman! Good luck with the car!
Morning dailies! Yesterday was a hot one but we are back to pretty normal temperatures here, some rain will be cooling things off today.
Core this morning and run this evening. I like this getting-out-of-work-before 8:00 business!
LRB- Nice reminiscing! I've been running for not quite 10 years so things were already very much like they are now. It'll be interesting to see what changes come in the next 10 or 20 years, but the important stuff stays the same even though the window dressing changes.
Cyberic - I've heard good things about that Anatomy for Runners book! Let us know what you think!
Lily- I feel the same way about finisher medals, they're a nice souvenir. It was a kind of weird experience, though, not getting a finisher medal at the 12-hr run I took part in and then a week later getting one at a 10K. I don't mind either one, something just doesn't seem right about it.
Why are we running so damn early?
Tempo done @ 6:30, 6:26, 6:24. It was my first run in my sweet new Hitogamis.
These nightly storm systems are messing up my running. When the alarm went off this morning, there was wind slashing rain against the side of the house, and right after I had decided to go back to bed, a huge crack of lightning that had to have been in our neighborhood. I think I made the right decision.
I did do a short core workout when I got up - Day 2 of some 30-day ab challenge I found on Facebook. The first week is pretty easy, but by day 30 it has you doing 125 sit-ups, 300 crunches, 65 leg raises, and a 2-minute plank (that one is easy). Not sure I'll get to all of the others, though. I also added in push-ups and hip bridges, the same number as crunches.
Massage today and dinner out with my moms' group tonight.
Have a great day, everyone!
20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.
Mmmmm...beer
Good morning everyone!
Cyberic, if I had to guess, I would say the backdrop for that picture is a formica countertop, all the rage in the 80s. lol
8 miles @ 7:55 done, that week off did me a world of good, I'm amazed at how smooth and easy my runs are this week, even with the heat.
Hope everyone has a great day!
-Dave
My running blog
Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!