Free shirts

“Fitness has to be fun. If it is not play, there will be no fitness. Play, you see, is the process. Fitness is merely the product.” -George Sheehan

I love things that are “free.” I love the free shirts you get at school sponsored events (i.e. – Homecoming, the opening of the SUB, Arbor Day…). I love the free shirts you get from your sorority/organization’s activities (i.e. – variety shows, pledge week, the infamous toga party…). I LOVE the free shirts you get at races. Sometimes you get two shirts (i.e. – the official race shirt then the finisher’s shirt)! I love wearing my finisher’s shirt the day after the race so everyone can see that I finished. I can run farther than they can. That is, in theory I love these things. You see, I’m pretty small and schools, club presidents, and race directors don’t usually plan on fitting someone my size. However, race directors especially should count on petite athletes showing up to their events. And they should cater to these athletes.
Finding clothes that fit me has always been a problem. It seems like all the medium people out there think they’re small and they always get the last t-shirt before small people, like me. My first marathon ran out of smalls by the time I finished the race, so I was stuck with a medium long sleeved shirt that I can only use to sleep in. My second marathon thought that all of the runner’s were men, so they gave me a men’s small finisher’s shirt. Again, much too large to wear in public. The worst part about this was that in the registration process, they offered x-small as an option but then didn’t have any x-small shirts to give.
There is also the infinite number of free t-shirts you get from other road races. What is the expiration date on one of these shirts? (I have a shirt that’s over 8 years old and has probably seen enough miles to go from here to China and back). Why do we keep these shirts? What should we do with these shirts? Here’s my answer to all these questions. A free race shirt that turned workout shirt should be thrown out when you think the shirt is yellow or grey, but was originally white (especially in the armpit area). The oldest race shirt can also be thrown out when a new shirt is added to the collection.
These shirts act as a reminder of what we accomplished. If you can’t remember all the races you ran in, write it down. Keep your bib number. Take a picture. Don’t make your spouse/significant other/roommate smell your nasty shirt or look at a three foot tall pile of free shirts in the corner. It’s a fire hazard.
A noble thing to do with these shirts is donate them to charity (as long as it's not the 'yellow' shirt). Who cares if the person receiving the shirt didn’t actually run in the proverbial half-fast 5K? They’ll have a shirt on their back. Or, you can use these shirts as cleaning rags. They really provide a streak free clean.

Training:
I'm on vacation, so I'll put two weeks' worth of runs in my next blog. I'll also be reporting back to you my Horseshoe Bend Canyon Spring Frolic race report!

PS - Happy Mother's Day!