Race Bling

Race Medal Holder Complete with Race Medals

I ran my first race on May 6, 2012 at the age of 47. It was a 5K and I finished with a time of 30:36. I knew there were awards for winners, but I never paid any attention to them because I was way too slow then to even be in the top ten for my age group. I also never intended on running another race. I had signed up for the 5K as motivation to start running, but never thought I'd want to run with a group of people again.

In July, I ran my second 5K and finished with a time of 28:41. The improvement in time was enough to make me sign up for another race. By the end of 2012, I had run 12 races and improved my time to 26:15.  I had yet to win any kind of award, but had come in fourth for my age group.

In 2013, I ran a very chilly and very snowy 5K called Cupid's Chase. My time was 28:08 which was terrible, but everyone ran terrible and I managed a first place age group win and a medal. My first medal.  By the end of 2013, I had four medals.

In 2014, I again won the Cupid's Chase with a time of 24:59. My medals were starting to accumulate.  I looked into race medal holders, but they were expensive - $40 to $50.  I could run two or three races for that amount of money. So I did what many people do and put some hooks in a piece of wood and hung up my medals.

Last month I added two more medals to my collection for a total of 19. I again looked into race medal holders which were still $40 to $50 for something decent. I found a plastic one with a female running figure on top for $18, but it wasn't much better than my strip of wood. 

I saw a lot of very nice homemade medal holders on runner's blogs and thought about buying the supplies to make my own, but the cost was still around $20 and I still had to make the thing. I just needed something "nice" to display my medals. It didn't need runners or inspirational words or anything on top. It just needed to hold medals.

A search of "hangers" and "hooks" on ebay brought up all kinds of holders for coffee cups, towels, coats, ties, and hats. An antique store had a very nice wooden tie rack for $15 which I nearly bought, but everything in my house is wood. Then I found an interesting metal towel holder for $10 which looked perfect. I read a review of the holder on Amazon where people said it wasn't the best towel holder, but I wouldn't be using it for wet towels. It measured 18 inches which was just right for the 22 inches of space available on the wall over my work desk. The seller was offering free shipping and had a great rating. Several mouse clicks later, the hanger was on its way and is now mounted on my wall. 

If you are interested, it is called a Sweep, Five Hook Holder. It comes in three different colors. You should be able to find it for around $10. For the price, it is a great race bling holder.