"I'd rather be seen on my bicycle than on a park run" - Quote from the dark side

Friday 9 April 2010

Badges and Medals

In my previous post I mentioned that I’ve been running for 29 years. In general people seem to think this is a long time and they are right. I’ve never thought about it like that as running has always been a part of my life.

So I was thinking about my first race back in 1981, a half marathon, and my last race, a marathon on 20 March 2010 and realized this is actually cool. There I was, running my first half marathon while still at school, 17 years old, and here I’m still doing it 29 years later, aged 46. Yes it is cool!

I had a look at some of my badges, medals, photos and other goodies I got for finishing races over the years and thought it would be nice to share some of that with you. Running photos of the eighties are a bit scarce (no digital cameras or even auto light meters), but I found these two.

Me finishing the Wally Hayward half marathon in 1982.

Running my first ultra (bib 1623). The 1985 Milo Korkie 56km. The runner cut off on the right with the black and gold/orange is my dad.

These were the times of badges. We didn’t get medals for finishing races, but badges. The cool thing to do was to sew them all to your tracksuit top and pants. I did the whole thing. Unfortunately I can’t find the pants. This is my old school tracksuit top with badges, front and back.




Special badges here are the one for my first race…


…my first full marathon…yes, no medal for my first marathon, but this badge…


…and the badge for my first ultra.


It was only during later years and the nineties that we started getting medals for basically every race. I still like the badges. Medals eventually end up in boxes somewhere. I have plenty and don’t really know how to display them all. I usually hang or place them around the house through a year and then put them in a box at the beginning of a new year and start the process again. I have four boxes with medals that contain many that are still sealed in the plastic bags I received them in.


Taking out the contents of a box looks like this. Multiply this by four and you’ll understand why I don’t display them all somewhere. Maybe one day I’ll find a proper solution to this problem.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm running the Slow Mag Half Marathon on Sunday for another medal. :) What do you do with your medals and other goodies from races?

11 comments:

Tanvir Kazmi said...

Nice one! I like to hang my medals in my office, and well, it is fun to see people go around and know that they have a runner around. However, being almost a newbie (5 years), it is possible to do that.

Tanvir Kazmi said...

And btw, my running blog has moved to tanvirkazmi.com

Johann said...

Thanks Tanvir, I've subscribed to your blog at the new location.

Julie said...

Hi Johann,
What a great post!! I really enjoyed the pictures:) You looked great...love the eighties running gear:) This was a great blast from the past!! Holy crap, look at all of those medals!!!

Johann, I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

ajh said...

My medals are in a box. I hang them on the fridge for awhile. Sometimes i take them to school to show the kids. I have a table I put trophies on. Loved the badges. Reminded me of girl scout days.

Christina said...

I love the badges and didn't know they ever did that. They should do that again. I put my medals in a running scrapbook. I'm about 6 months behind in my scrapbook but also don't run that many races. I can see after 29 years you'd have a gazillion medals.

Thomas Tan said...

Wow, what great running exploits and memories you have had! I think it's so cool that you ran your first ultra with your dad at the 1985 Milo Korkie 56km. Here's to many more running years to come!

Sherri said...

This is very cool! I love the badges...what a great idea! I never even keep my medals...I guess I should..it would be fun to look back over the years. The kids always want them and they wear them until one day they are lost! Luckily our memories never leave us!

Yes! 29 years is a long time ...Congratulations. It's almost worth throwing a party next year...the BIG 30!!!!

Running Through Life said...

I loved the old photos. That is a bunch of medals.I can see why you have trouble displaying all of those. AN impressive running career!

Running Through Life said...

I loved the old photos. I can see why you have a hard time displaying all that hardware. An impressive running career!

Anne said...

Thanks for sharing Johann...badges were very cool :) ...wow you sure have a lot of medals, 29 years is indeed a long time...impressive! Loved the pics too :)