Race Bibs

I have so many race bibs. In a marathon there are different colors, because if it is your first time everyone will know to help you through the hard parts, they want you to stick out for a good reason. First timers, sometimes need extra gels, moral support, Vaseline, snacks and water; you have a bright color and larger bib for a reason. There have been times, I have wanted the best number or my name or last name in a demanding way just because I could. Other times, I jokingly tell the race director to give me a horrible number without my name to blend in. Going up to the line of a race you are elite in with a purposely bad race bib, is interesting because of how people who don’t know you react. For one race I really love, I have had the same number every year, but it is a random number no one would want, it’s really funny. One time, I did the Maine Marathon and did not wear my race bib, I just went out there like a wild woman. I think I have every number when you need to be a number that I like 1, 123, 180, 44, but 57 was questionable or on the fence of being bad to me. Should you take yourself too seriously or be funny? There is totally a time for both! Enjoy the ride, is my advice as a seasoned athlete.

One year, I had a race packet mailed to school, and someone thought they were funny taking it before I even knew it was in my mailbox. I think they thought it would actually prevent me from running the race, where I could just show up anyway and the director would solve all my problems. It got to someone’s head they took a big packet from me and it became a sick joke trophy for them, but in reality it did not affect my life or impact my ability to run in that race. If you ever lose your race bib, you can ALWAYS just ask for another one elite or recreational, it will NEVER be the difference between competing on the big or small scale. However, everyone will look at the race packet snatcher funny, yet they wouldn’t even be banned from running it themselves if they so desire. There are stacks of extra race bibs on race day for pretty much every event, just in case something goes missing, it is not a big deal. But, yeah the last thing I needed at the time was some weird group of people who don’t even run, stealing my race packet, ughh… It was like the Gilmore Girl’s episode where she writes the bad review about the ballet and the girl is all angry about the review, or maybe that analogy isn’t even enough, I don’t know. When someone thinks they can do something serious to you, but they really cannot and you do not even know how to respond to it. It is never fun having someone disrupt important matters in your life, they have nothing to compare to. Forgive, find a solution, and moving is is the best option.