A career in T-shirt collecting

Can 4 years of running and 3 years of "racing" be considered a career?  The Merriam Webster online dictionary has 4 definitions, but here are the 2 commonly known ones:

1) a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life.
2) a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling


I'm not sure if my running fits the first definition, although I'm not sure exactly what "public" life is.  If public simply means that I run in public (and blog for the wide public to read about it), then I fit.  But no matter, because if my running doesn't fit the second definition to a T, I don't know what does.  "A profession for which one trains"?  Um, yeah.  "Undertaken as a permanent calling"?  Yes, most definitely.  I may not have believed it when running found me 4+ years ago, but now I think I can safely say that running has become a permanent fixture in my life.  And often, it is running that calls me.  It pulls me out on the streets, helps me battle through tired days, helps me celebrate the great ones, and gives me a reason to feel accomplished in my life.  And until something happens that absolutely requires me to stop running, it will be a permanent part of my life for the foreseeable future.


But I didn't start this post to talk about the definition of a career.  Instead, I'd like to talk about how I'm a pack rat.  At least when it comes to clothes.  There are items of clothing in my closet that it would be embarrassing to admit the year I bought them (Sierra can attest to this if you'd like proof, she looks disdainfully at certain articles of my wardrobe every time she sorts through my closet because she does know when I bought most of the items).


I'm getting better at weeding out some of the older, "regular" articles of clothing.  I did a huge cleaning of my closet when I moved in February.  Almost 2 garbage bags full of clothes (and a 3rd full of worn out running shoes).  But when it comes to items that have any ounce of sentimentality in them, I can't bring myself to let go.  I still have my D.A.R.E shirt from 5th grade, complete with all the signatures of my classmates reminding me not to do drugs.  And all those T-shirts we made with puffy paint in middle school for the swim team?  Still have those.  I have every single homecoming class shirt, from our Back to the Future themed year to our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt.  I've got swim team hoodies, college hoodies that I never went to but visited while on the market for schools, and random t-shirts like this one:

Because when I lived in Brooklyn, the L
train was an awful train that was always
under construction, late, and never worked
when you wanted it to.  So angry Williamsburg
artists made shirts like this.

Do I ever wear this endless pile of sentimental clothing?  No, not really.  Maybe to bed.  Maybe under a hoodie on a Lucy walk.  But most of the time, these t-shirts are folded away in my dresser, sitting there holding onto their sentimentality until they finally disintegrate into nothingness one day.

So let's contemplate for a moment, the idea of race t-shirts.  Do they hold sentimental value?  Yes, every race means something, whether it's a 5K or a marathon, there are memories in that t-shirt.  Even though in most of the races I didn't even wear the shirt, I seem to invest my memories in them.  But at least with these shirts, they are getting their full use.  I wear them proudly.  Each time I put them on in preparation for a run, I momentarily flash back to the race that I earned them.

Not every race has a shirt.  There's that first 10K I did 3 and a half years ago that was so small I don't even remember the name of it (but I remember Sierra waking up to drive me down to Seward Park and then sleeping in the car while I ran).  And then the Jingle Bell 5K this year--they somehow gave me a youth large shirt instead of the small adult I'd asked for, and these 2 sizes are nowhere close to being the same.  I gave that one up to Goodwill (although I still have moments of thinking I shouldn't have).  

Are there still memories for the races I don't have shirts?  Yes of course.  Do I worry that one day I will forget them if I don't have a shirt?  Yes.  Am I a little bit crazy and neurotic?  Yes.  But my race shirts tell a story.  They tell the story of my running career.  Since we haven't delved into the past lately, let's tell the story.

Seattle Rock N Roll Inaugural Half Marathon.
June 27, 2009

My first big race.  My first half marathon.  The one that began it all.  No one told me to sign up for it.  No one convinced me to run that far.  No one ran it with me.  It was me.  All me.  I chose to do it.  I remember my long runs, counting the miles as each week I ran the farthest I'd ever run (7 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles, 11 miles).  I trained for it by myself.  I ran it by myself.  I felt awesome.  And then I wanted more.

Seattle Rock N Roll Full Marathon
June 26, 2010

I first took a picture of this shirt by itself, and then I realized that this race really looked like this:

My first race with Team in Training.

When I ran the half the year before, I saw all these people in purple shirts cheering each other on, smiling, having fun together.  I decided I wanted running friends.  So when I got a flyer in the mail for an informational meeting, I signed up, went, and started practice the next morning.  The white shirt is the participant practice shirt and the purple one was my race shirt.  I had originally signed up for the half marathon again, but got convinced into training for the full.  So I trained for the full and ran it, surprising even myself.  As I finished the race, I remember thinking that it was by far the hardest thing I had ever done in my life.  It hurt like hell.  I cried when I was done.  Then I laughed.  After that, I ate a lot.  And 2 days later, I wanted to do it again.

Seattle Seafair Torchlight 8K
July 31, 2010

This was the first shorter race that I ran for fun with friends.  It was a gorgeous day to run along the viaduct, and I remember thinking that it was great to be seeing that amazing view at mile 4 of an 8K instead of mile 22 of a marathon.  I got to enjoy it a lot more.  And I love the t-shirt.  Still one of my favorites.

Amica Seattle Half Marathon
November 28, 2010

I didn't actually run this race.  I got a stress fracture in my knee at the end of the summer and had to skip out on this one.  I still picked up the race packet and t-shirt because I sold my race numbers to a friend so he could run his first half marathon (not exactly legal, but people do it, shhh don't tell anyone).  I kept the shirt because it wasn't my friends size and because I still wanted to remember the race I couldn't do.  It helps me remember to take care of my legs so I can keep running more races.

St. Patty's Day Dash
March 13, 2011
oops, and some red toes

Another fun race with friends.  It was cold, rainy, and I was just about to start training for my 2nd marathon and 2nd event with Team in Training.  We met at the old TNT office before this race and it helped me get excited for the upcoming season.

Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon
June 25, 2011
someone got jealous and wanted her toes
in the picture too

This was my second half marathon.  It seems as though the Seattle Rock N Roll has become a sort of ritual for me now.  I ran the inaugural race and the year after.  Now having done the race 3 years in a row and currently signed up for the 4th, I think it's going to become a staple every year.  The 2011 race was the one that I almost broke the 2 hour time but was off by a minute.  Nonetheless, I was still 15 minutes faster than my 1st half marathon.

Seattle Seafair Torchlight 8K
July 30, 2011

I ran this race with new friends from my half completed marathon training season with Team in Training.  In my second season with Team, I made some really great friends, and this race reminds me of them.  We dressed up as pirates.  I embraced the idea of a running skirt.  Good times.

Victoria Full Marathon
October 9, 2011

Three shirts again for this one.  The red race jacket--best race shirt ever.  It's a zip up jacket that has long sleeves with thumb holes and a pocket in the back that has a headphones hole on the inside so that you can weaver your headphones up your back to your ears.  This is essential because you don't want your headphones cord flopping around in front or behind you.  The orange shirt underneath is the telltale sign of a Team in Training mentor.  I signed up as a mentor for TNT that season and helped 8 people raise money for LLS and watched them finish their races.  Pretty awesome.  Then the purple shirt was my race shirt with the new Team in Training logo.  You probably can't see it, but there is a googley eye stuck to the fish (the symbol for the Washington/Alaska chapter of TNT).  That eye bounced up and down for 26.2 miles (or 42 kilometers, since I was in Canada and that's what the race was marked in).  Even post washing, the eye still holds on.  This was an awesome race.  I loved the size of it, the city, the people, the weather, the course.  I would definitely do it again.  That is, after I've done all the other races I can't wait to do first.

It was shortly after the Victoria marathon that I started blogging.  So the remainder of this story you've heard.

Amica Seattle Half Marathon
November 27, 2011

You can relive this story here.

The now shirtless Jingle Bell 5K belongs here.  December 11, 2011.  Picture a white long sleeved t-shirt with green and red stuff on it.  In the actual race, Erica and I wore matching "I heart Santa" t-shirts and sequined Santa hats.  There was a very cold beer garden at the end.  The beer gardens are half the fun of these shorter races.  You get to quench your thirst and take back in the carbs you burned all at the same time.

St. Patty's Day Dash
March 17, 2012

I guess I didn't write about this one.  It was cold.  It was wet.  I got a time I'm pretty proud of (maintaining a 8:25 pace for just under 4 miles).  Then it snowed.  We drank beer.  It was St. Patrick's Day.  

Whidbey Island Half Marathon
April 15, 2012

This was an awesome race.  Beautiful day.  Great friends.  Surprisingly awesome PR.  Not so great shirt.  I'll get over it though.

There it is up until now.  Not half bad for just 3 short years of races.  This story is no where close to being over yet.  In less than 2 weeks, hopefully I'll add another shirt to the accomplished stack.  And then 3 weeks after that, another.  And then another in October when I run the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco.  And maybe I'll start adding some biking shirts to this pile.  As long as I stay healthy and my legs keep working, I'll be running.  One day my shirt pile will get too big.  When that happens, Mom you should plan on receiving a large box in the mail with worn out racing shirts so that you can make something awesome out of them for me.  A quilt?  A wall hanging?  I'll leave it up to you.  Don't worry, I'll give you at least another year or 2 to think about it :)

Until then, as long as you are all still interested in hearing the story, I'll keep writing it as it develops.  Actually, I'll probably keep writing it whether anyone else is interested or not.  But it's much more fun to have some friends along for the ride.