The Running Thread - 2019

[ZellyB]

ATTQOTD: Favorite medal is from my first marathon which also was the 20th anniversary medal for the WDW marathon. It's a great medal and the race itself holds a lot of significance for me.

 

[PrincessV]

My favorite medal design also comes from the inaugural SWDS weekend, but I love the 10k TIE Fighter medal!

So good! That's one of the few I've kept - and display - too.

 

[Kazrak]

ATTQOTD: Oh, gosh. It's a tough call. If you told me I had to toss every medal but one...I'd keep the 2017 Kessel Run. It's probably the most meaningful one I have so far.

As far as favorite design - the Kessel Run is clean and elegant, the 2017 Light Side 10k BB8 medal was cool, but I really like the connected medals that Brazen does for their NYE/NYD races. There's a medal for NYE, one for NYD, and if you run both, there's a medal to connect the two. I did the 2017/8 races; the medals are below. I kind of regret not doing the NYD race this year, but figured it was unwise given an all-day flight to Orlando the next day.

 

[Miranda]

ATTQOTD: My favorite medal is probably my first one, my 2015 Tinker Bell HM medal. It was a spinner!

This is not my picture... all my medals are scattered all over my house in piles of running crap and running clothes and who knows what else. I don't even know where it is.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My favorite:

BB8!

Followed closely by Lady & the Tramp!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: AS far as the nicest medals, I like my 3 Disney anniversary medals: Marathon 20 & 25 and Goofy 10.

Sentimental favorite is Rocket City Marathon 2017. My favorite race, my only (to date) sub-4 marathon, and the last medal I got to show my mom.


My favorite as far as the toughest one to earn is The Running Dead 50 Miler (actually 52 miles). It's a cheap plastic one on a cheap 'ceiling fan' chain, but it wasn't cheap to earn.

 

[Capang]

ATTQOTD: my first race medal. 2017 Christmas Story Run 5k. It’s a spinner.

 

[rteetz]

QOTD: with the talk here recently about medals, I’m wondering what is your favorite medal? It can be one that you actually have or just you that you’ve seen and thought looked awesome.

This is tough.

My favorite medal is probably my first marathon WDW 2017.
My favorite medal design is Dopey 2018. It was a bit of redemption too after the 2017 half being cancelled.

 

[roxymama]

My fave for “feelz” is my first hot chocolate 15k. I wanted to graduate from 5k which didn’t have a medal. Really was catalyst to being more brave about distance.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

My fave for “feelz” is my first hot chocolate 15k. I wanted to graduate from 5k which didn’t have a medal. Really was catalyst to being more brave about distance.
View attachment 376416

As a barely passable chocolatier, I want that medal.

 

[Waiting2goback]

That seems like such a waste of money! I was unable to run the marathon this year even though I signed up due to my parents having surgery, but I would never go on eBay and buy a medal from it. Why go through all that trouble if you know you aren't even going to attempt it??? I'm very confused by this person, LOL.

This person has serious issues. I have talked about her on past years threads when this topic comes out. I don’t really keep tabs on her anymore. But at one point she was signing up for multiple Disney races a year. She was trying to get C2C and would get swept. She has no friends and she was trying to fit in with my and another co-worker because she liked him and wanted his attention.

So there are a lot of reasons she justified this in her mind despite wasting thousands on the registrations and trips and getting non of the benefits from doing the work.

I personally don’t understand it but oh well.

FWIW re: selling/buying medals... I sell a lot of my medals* and I've seen a number of reasons why folks buy them. One woman's son was registered for a 5K, but their flight was canceled due to weather and they missed the race - he ran the miles at home and she really wanted him to have the medal to celebrate, so she bought mine. Another person bought a medal for her friend, who had to miss a race due to cancer treatments and the friend wanted to give her the medal to celebrate her last treatment and return to running. Another guy bought my inaugural Dark Side challenge medal and, looking at his eBay profile, it was clear he's a mega Star Wars collector/trader. I'm not saying there aren't folks who buy medals because they want to pretend they earned them, but there are a lot of other reasons, too!

*And, because I know this mystifies many, my reason for selling is that I really don't care about most medals I earn, I don't care to display them, and I really could use the money. I'm not a collector of "stuff" and I HATE clutter, so I'm always happy that there's a market for these things! Some of mine have also gone to charitable purposes, too.

I could see many reasons why someone would buy a medal. If someone actually puts in the work and can’t make it because of travel issues or illness/injury I could see it.

My former co-worker was non of those. She talked a big game. Claimed to train. Gained about 30
Lbs while “training” and then got swept and took credit from other runners who actually did the work.

QOTD:
My ToT 10 miler medal is the most meaningful to me. It’s a cool medal in general but everything that went into it and the change it helped me make in my life makes it a no brainer. I love my marathon medals too but ToT is it. I hope they bring it back.

 

[Chaitali]

2014 Tower of Terror 10 miler was my first big race and I love that medal! It has glow in the dark elements and the little elevator moves up and down.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

ATTQOTD: Oh, gosh. It's a tough call. If you told me I had to toss every medal but one...I'd keep the 2017 Kessel Run. It's probably the most meaningful one I have so far.

As far as favorite design - the Kessel Run is clean and elegant, the 2017 Light Side 10k BB8 medal was cool, but I really like the connected medals that Brazen does for their NYE/NYD races. There's a medal for NYE, one for NYD, and if you run both, there's a medal to connect the two. I did the 2017/8 races; the medals are below. I kind of regret not doing the NYD race this year, but figured it was unwise given an all-day flight to Orlando the next day.

View attachment 376392

My trail race series medals this summer link up like that. When their powers are combined I will become Captain Trailrace.

 

[huggybuff]

ATTQOTD: My most cherished medal is a 5k medal for a local race. It’s a fine race and all but it’s not like the Disney races by any means. The reason it holds a special place is because it’s the best race I’ve run to date. Trained for it with my best effort and really felt like I earned it. That was two years ago and that same race is coming up next month.

 

[Smilelea]

My favorite medal also happens to be my first medal from my first race (that I actually ran. All previous races I mostly walked).

This is the medal that has also created a bling monster. Now I only want to run races that give medals to all of the finishers.

The short story behind this medal is that I didn't expect it at all. In fact, I left before awards were presented because I knew there was no reason to stay. A fellow mom (our sons go to school together) sent me a message that I had placed 3rd in my age group and she wanted to meet me to give it to me. I was shocked.
So even though this medal isn't anything special as far as the design, it means a lot to me.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD favorite medal:
I love all the bling, especially the challenge ones. If I had to pick one now, it would probably my RnR Remix because 5k with DD and DH, hard earned PR on the Half and the design.

 

[txdisneygrl]

ATTQOTD: My favorite medal for the feelz is the 2017 Princess Half medal. I had never run anything when I decided after seeing the 2016 princess weekend photos that I wanted to do it and that medal means so much because a few years prior I never would've thought I could run a half marathon much less that I would want to.

Design wise- I love Brave so I am very fond of last years Princess 10K medal.

 

[amazingact21]

TTQOTD: My favorite medal:

Since I'm pretty new to the running game, I don't have a lot to pull from. (I remember some of the past rD medals but not enough to pick a favorite.)
However, the 36K Challenge medal for the Paris races was awesome:

It glows in the dark!


And I'm not a big Avengers fan, but I complain to my DH all the time that I wish I had run the 5K and gotten the Thanos medal:

 

[jmasgat]

Attqotd: I'm going with Boston 2011. (No pic because I'm actually in Boston now for a wedding.)

The reason is because I never thought I would become a runner, and then I never thought I could finish a 2miler, and then I never thought I would ever in a million years do a half or a full-that's crazy talk. Then to qualify for my hometown race-a legendary race? Uh-uh. I still look back on this with disbelief and a small amount of awe.

Next favorite is for that 2 miler- the Oak Apple, my first race. They only gave out medals for the first 200 and I really wanted one. Thought my lungs would burst, but I got it!

 

[Wendy98]

Just a shortish race recap with lots of pics (since I love looking at other's pics)...

WDW Marathon last Sunday, 1/13/19

I have so much wrong with my body that I almost took a DNS for this one. I was STILL on the fence 3 days before we were leaving but I really didn't want to disappoint dh who I know was looking forward to the trip. There were also signs saying maybe I shouldn't go. We had an early flight Saturday morning (one day before the marathon) and snow was predicted so there was a possibility we wouldn't make it to WDW. Two days before that, my youngest came home from school not feeling well--diagnosed with strep the next day. Anyway, we made it out (left kids at home) with my friends.

After waiting an hour for deicing of the plane, we were on our way. Arrived at BWV, room wasn't ready (it never is), dropped off our carryons, ate a quick lunch, and headed to the expo. The expo is not good. I looked at the merchandise and it is awful. I don't know how an organization like Disney, who capitalizes on every marketing and merchandising opportunity, can offer such poor selections and quality. The items looked cheap and felt cheap. But anyway, that was money saved.

I went to bed by 9pm after face timing my kids. DH went out to watch football so I could sleep. I NEVER did fall asleep and finally got up at 2:40 to get ready. I took lots of ibuprofen, ate a little, and caught the bus. Transportation was excellent and I was kind of wishing for a longer bus ride!

I am always surprised by the amount of non-runners in that starting area. Kids, dogs, families, all out at 4am. I saw table of Bio Freeze and slathered it all over my legs, glutes, and back. I had brought my own, but it was easy to use the big jug. I went toward my corral when they said they were open. I stopped again at the bathroom before getting closer to my corral--nervous bladder. There was a patch of pavement to warm up on the side of corral a/b area. I ran a little to test how things would hold up. My back has had issues since before Christmas. My feet have been bad since NYC and probably cause the back problem. I had originally wanted to compete and finish top 10, but I made peace with myself that it wasn't happening. I decided to run an easy pace and keep it under 3:30 (8 min/mile).

Before the race. I loved the weather. I had a throwaway shirt and mylar blanket and it was all I needed at the beginning.


I had an elite entry which isn't anything special, just mixed with A. I hung back pretty far since I had no need to be at the line. After the start, I passed a few wheelchair racers within the first mile. I don't understand why they don't give them more than a minute or so before releasing the mass of runners. I felt good for the portion headed to MK, but could "feel" my problem areas. I was running faster than I intended also. I decided I would get some character pics to make this more fun. Some of my highlights:













I really wish the photographer had used a flash for this one:



The stretch between MK and AK isn't great, but wasn't as bad as I remembered. Crowd support is completely non-existent in many parts and I can't say I blame people--it is so early! I was still feeling OK, but my left hamstring/glute wasn't starting to be a nuisance. I stopped at a medical table and reapplied some Bio Freeze.

I am maxed out on pics and will continue...