Meaning of medals

IMG00199, originally uploaded by yumkerun.

She Who Makes Waves tagged me about the Meaning of Medals and asked the following questions to other bloggers:

What do your medals mean to you? Do they hold significance? Are they proudly displayed, maybe on a wall or framed behind glass? Or do you tuck yours away in a drawer, out of sight out of mind, never to be seen again? Do you have your times engraved on the back?

Those are very good questions. And the truth is, I have more medals than I know what to do with. I have 10K medals, 8K medals, half marahthon and 30K medals. Some mean more to me than others. Races in which I aim and train for mean a lot to me. Or maybe my first race in that distance or my best performance.

But because I have a lot of hardware, I don't display them all. No, most of them are in a binder in which I keep all my bib numbers. In the back in a heap are my other medals.

I do display some, though. The three you see here are my three marathon medals I've earned so far, put on my fridge. From left, Marine Corps Marathon in 2007, Flying Pig Marathon in 2008 and the Chicago Marathon in 2006. These ones mean a lot to me. Each represents the culmination of hundreds of training miles. Not just miles, but actually training plans that I've followed religiously.

I hang them there to remind me of what I'm working for. I hang them there on my fridge to remind me to eat well (funny, huh). They inspire me, they give me goals, they humble me and they just want me to add more hardware to that collection.

Anyways, great idea for a post. What do you do with your medals?