Heavy Medal

A package arrived this week containing the award for my third place finish in the men’s 45 – 49 age group at this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon.  It was a plaque measuring 5.5 in. by 10.5 in. by 1 in. and looks like this:

It will find a place in my closet alongside my collection of medals.  Those medals are symbols of hard work, determination, courage, heart, passion, countless weeks of training, sweat, blisters, bloody nipples and the mark of an accomplishment.

My motives are more about setting a goal, working toward it and completing it than they are about collecting tokens.  Still, the award is sweet and comes at a time when my desire to run is at a low point.  Inertia, and a goal to run 2,000 miles this year, keeps me moving.  The plaque gives me time to reflect and to look forward.

On a dowel in my closet I keep a collection of medals I have received from competitions I have entered.  Each medal I receive I slide onto the left end.  Occasionally I bump into the collection, sometimes deliberately, and the medals clang like chimes.  The result is a chronology of races I have competed in.  It shows my activity.  There are gaps of years when I didn’t compete in anything.  Paradoxically, those were the years when I had the most personal challenges.

On the far right is a medal from my freshman year at Syracuse when the crew shell I was rowing in won the 1983 Presidents Cup Regatta in Tampa, FL.  Syracuse entered three boats in the 2000 meter race and we swept the first three places.  The stroke of our boat and leader of the freshman team, David Godfrey, died later that year from a virus that affected his heart.  Attached to that medal is a badge I received as an overseas competitor in the Henley Royal Regatta in England in 1985.

Medals are very nice, but I like the more functional awards given at some races.  Several times a week I drink tea out of the mug that was the 2^nd place masters award at the 2006 American Discovery Trail Marathon.  I drink water out of a pint glass I won in the Crazy Eights race in 2006. 

Rodeos give out belt buckles.  C.R.A.S.H. - B. Indoor Rowing champions receive a hammer.  The winner of the NYC Marathon gets a Mercedes Benz.  The winner of the Tour de France used to receive a chalet in the Alps.  The winner of the US Presidential race gets an ulcer. 

Looking forward there are races I have not yet run, but would like to.  I am not in it for the hardware, but there are some awards I covet.  One is the gold pan that is awarded at the Georgetown to Idaho Springs ½ Marathon.  Every year I planned to run it, but something always came up that conflicted with the date.  Age group winners receive gold pans that look like this:

The other award I covet is the belt buckle that is awarded at the Leadville 100.  If you finish the race in under 25 hours, you receive a belt buckle that looks like this:

Six years ago I set my sights on that goal, but two surgeries derailed my plans.  I do not believe I have the strength to train for, or complete that race.  It represents the pinnacle of running toughness.

The first day of winter, the winter solstice, is not until Friday, December 21, but we got a little tease of it during this Saturday’s run.  It was sunny and 49 degrees when we set out and 41 degrees and blustery when we finished.