Pic of the Day: The Significance of a Green, Ugly Shirt.
Today for some weird reason, I was feeling all matchy-matchy and had to find a running outfit for my new green Injinjis that I got at SD100. Coincidentally I had just pulled this green Labor of Love Marathon tee back out of my donation box last week, figuring I would eventually find something to wear with it. Well, TA-DA! I am joking in a serious-kind-of-way.
So this shirt, it really means a lot to me, especially now looking back, but for three years I never really wanted to wear it, partly because of it’s colors; the olive green part, just doesn’t really look good with any other colored running bottoms (go ahead, roll your eyes). Finally I pulled it off the hanger and put it in my donation box. I never could actually drop if off at The Salvation Army and that is when I decided I would somehow make use of it.
I got this shirt from the first and only W (win) for a marathon and during that whole 12 marathons/12 months thing I was trying to do. It was hard finding a race EVERY month that didn’t require tons of traveling and this was the only one that worked for me. Back then, when I thought a mole hill was a mountain during a run, I was not happy about running this; during the race I thought I was going to die on the uphills and I was VERY annoyed that I had to walk up part of a hill on my way back in to the finish. I am not joking. I crossed that line, and thought the race sucked, thought my time sucked (no PR — boo hoo) and I was doubtful I would ever go back to that “hilly” course.
Looking back now, I realize that the W wasn’t all that significant, it was hearing Michael, now known as “Uncle Mike” yell my name and cheer me on as we crossed paths on my way to the finish (he was running the 100-mile I believe, and it was the first time I met him outside of dailymile posts), and the fact that I was so wrong about the course and my attitude about only “racing” and not necessarily appreciating the beauty of any run, hilly or flat.
Read all about my 2010 Labor of Love Marathon here.
Trace B. 
I definitely have old race shirts that hold significant meaning for me, when you hit certain milestones there are so many things that will remind you of it!
June 18, 2013 at 3:10 pm
I just recently got rid of tons of race shirts that I knew I would never wear and even knowing that, it was still hard. I feel bad wasting such items but what are we supposed to do? I know race directors needs to get totals and try placing their orders early with their print shops, but it would be nice to have an option to get a race shirt, don’t you think?
June 19, 2013 at 4:09 am