As many runners do, I spend an absurd amount of time thinking about all the little eccentricities that could remotely relate to running. The latest is race t-shirt etiquette.
It’s a topic that has no doubt been covered ad nauseam in on of my favorite blog posts of all time. In it, Ben lists about 20 faux pas that runners make when wearing race t-shirts, one of which is to never where a race t-shirt you do not finish (let alone start).
This is something I take very seriously. I never wear the t-shirt for the race I’m currently racing. As not superstitious as I am, it just gives me the creeps to wear a race shirt during the actual race. This leads me to a different question all together. What if you don’t even start the race?
As many of you already know, I was scheduled to run the Austin Half Marathon this weekend (originally full marathon), but have been sidelined with a ridiculous injury. I’m not gonna lie, I still want the t-shirt. So much so that I posed the question to my favorite running community at the Daily Mile (for those of you who are involved in any endurance sport, please check it out, it’s pretty awesome).
The vast majority of folks said that since I paid for the race entry, technically the t-shirt is mine. I pondered this logic for a bit. Yes, I paid the entry fee. But anyone can pay an entry fee. Granted it’s not the most cost efficient way to buy a t-shirt, but hey, I don’t judge how people choose to spend their money. Then I thought, well, if I was healthy enough to make it to the starting line, odds are extremely high that I would have finished the race. Therefore, there should be no shame in wearing the t-shirt, right?
And yet, it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. To me a race t-shirt symbolizes more than just an entry fee or 100% cotton – or if it’s an awesome race, wicking material. A race t-shirt represents the experience of that day. It might sound trite, but every time I put a race t-shirt on I think about that day and what I accomplished – whether it’s just a second of recognition or a longer reminiscence. If I get my t-shirt for the Austin Half, every time I wear it, I’ll remember that I was injured and couldn’t participate in an awesome day.
So I think my t-shirt etiquette remains unchanged at this point. It may change the more races I complete, when they all start to fade into each other. But for now, I like to think it represents more than an entry fee.
Thanks again to all you Daily Milers for the support through the injury and helping me figure all this out!
