I didn't really think about it a lot until today. But runners like to collect things.
- We collect t-shirts (my dresser drawers were filled and closet shelves overflowing with race t-shirts for the first couple of years that I ran).
- We collect finisher's medals. (I've got 10 half marathon, 2 marathon and a bunch of 5K, 4 Miler and 5 Miler medals).
- We collect racing bibs. That's right, the piece of paper that you pin to the front of your shirt in a race that identifies you by number. There are even binders runners can purchase with the clips at just the right width to allow you to put the bib in the binder without punching extra holes in it or worrying about tearing it.
- We collect states. Most of you who read this know that I've set of goal of running a race in all 48 contiguous United States (and if I can get Alaska and Hawaii in there along the way, all the better).
It's this last "collection" that I've started to focus on more recently. So far I have run races in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada. So, ten states down, thirty-eight to go. I had hoped that I might even be able to squeeze California in this year with the Big Sur Half Marathon in November.
So my plan was this, if I can get at least four out of state races in each year, I should collect all the states in no more than 10 years. Not too bad. In order to do that I had decided that after this year I would limit my out of state races only to states where I had yet to race (and maybe the Tunnel to Towers Run in NYC) so that I wasn't spending too much money traveling to run in states that weren't moving me closer to my goal (adding to my "collection").
An opportunity to "collect" things. Not a bad idea. A pretty smart one actually. I remember when I was in the army and stationed in Germany I used to participate in something called a Volksmarch. People from all over would come to a town, pay a small fee and go take a walk. Usually the walks were 5 or 10 kilometers. At the end of the walk we would get some souvenier. Something to...you guessed it....collect. Many of the towns had figured out that if they made the souveniers relevant to previous years then people would return to their town the following year to complete the collection. One town did "half" of a medal, so in order to get the other half and complete the collection, one had to come back to that town the following year and participate in their Volksmarch. One town gave away plates each year. In 1987 they started a series. Each plate would feature one of the 50 states of the United States. That meant, that in order to complete the entire collection one would have to return and participate in that town's Volksmarch for fifty years.
Now the Space Coast Marathon has figured out the same thing. Starting this year, and for the following four years, their medal will feature different space shuttles. In addition, if one runs three out of the five years they receive an additional medal. All five years get yet another medal. So, in order to collect the entire seven-medal series, one would have to commit to running the Space Coast Marathon or Half Marathon through 2017.
So there's the wrench...I've already run in Florida and this means making Florida one of my out of state running destinations this year and for four more years afterwards. That wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't interested in this particular collection...but let's get serious, I'm blogging about it right? I'm interested. Not only am I interested, but I want it. I want to collect this particular series of medals. not only for the unique collection, but because the space shuttle program is such a part of our history.
I can remember as a child taking our first real family vacation to Florida. We piled in the Chevy Malibu and headed south. We went to the Kennedy Space Center and saw the people from NASA talking about what was, at that time, the "next step" in space exploration. Something called the Space Shuttle. This was a cross between a rocket and and an airplane. This particular space vehicle would have reusable fuel tanks that would fall of the rocket and parachute to the ocean. They would then be retrieved to be used again. The shuttle, instead of falling in to the ocean, would become like an airplane when it returned and the pilot would land it on a runway. It was all so futuristic then.
I remember the first test flight. They put the space shuttle on top of a 747 airplane then let it go so that the pilot could see if they would be able to land it on a runway.
I remember being in class at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA when one of the instructors came in and told our instructor that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded. He was speaking German when he said it, and I thought to myself that I surely had misunderstood. Unfortunately, I had understood perfectly.
I remember a few years later stopping by my dad's office to have lunch with him and watching as the Space Shuttle program got back in to space for the first time since that explosion.
So, if I can make this work it looks like it may take an extra year or two for me collect all of the states. But that's ok. My plan is to be running for many more years than that, so why put a time limit on it?
- We collect t-shirts (my dresser drawers were filled and closet shelves overflowing with race t-shirts for the first couple of years that I ran).
- We collect finisher's medals. (I've got 10 half marathon, 2 marathon and a bunch of 5K, 4 Miler and 5 Miler medals).
- We collect racing bibs. That's right, the piece of paper that you pin to the front of your shirt in a race that identifies you by number. There are even binders runners can purchase with the clips at just the right width to allow you to put the bib in the binder without punching extra holes in it or worrying about tearing it.
- We collect states. Most of you who read this know that I've set of goal of running a race in all 48 contiguous United States (and if I can get Alaska and Hawaii in there along the way, all the better).
It's this last "collection" that I've started to focus on more recently. So far I have run races in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada. So, ten states down, thirty-eight to go. I had hoped that I might even be able to squeeze California in this year with the Big Sur Half Marathon in November.
So my plan was this, if I can get at least four out of state races in each year, I should collect all the states in no more than 10 years. Not too bad. In order to do that I had decided that after this year I would limit my out of state races only to states where I had yet to race (and maybe the Tunnel to Towers Run in NYC) so that I wasn't spending too much money traveling to run in states that weren't moving me closer to my goal (adding to my "collection").
Then, as I was looking through my latest edition of Runners World Magazine, I saw this...
An opportunity to "collect" things. Not a bad idea. A pretty smart one actually. I remember when I was in the army and stationed in Germany I used to participate in something called a Volksmarch. People from all over would come to a town, pay a small fee and go take a walk. Usually the walks were 5 or 10 kilometers. At the end of the walk we would get some souvenier. Something to...you guessed it....collect. Many of the towns had figured out that if they made the souveniers relevant to previous years then people would return to their town the following year to complete the collection. One town did "half" of a medal, so in order to get the other half and complete the collection, one had to come back to that town the following year and participate in their Volksmarch. One town gave away plates each year. In 1987 they started a series. Each plate would feature one of the 50 states of the United States. That meant, that in order to complete the entire collection one would have to return and participate in that town's Volksmarch for fifty years.
Now the Space Coast Marathon has figured out the same thing. Starting this year, and for the following four years, their medal will feature different space shuttles. In addition, if one runs three out of the five years they receive an additional medal. All five years get yet another medal. So, in order to collect the entire seven-medal series, one would have to commit to running the Space Coast Marathon or Half Marathon through 2017.
So there's the wrench...I've already run in Florida and this means making Florida one of my out of state running destinations this year and for four more years afterwards. That wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't interested in this particular collection...but let's get serious, I'm blogging about it right? I'm interested. Not only am I interested, but I want it. I want to collect this particular series of medals. not only for the unique collection, but because the space shuttle program is such a part of our history.
I can remember as a child taking our first real family vacation to Florida. We piled in the Chevy Malibu and headed south. We went to the Kennedy Space Center and saw the people from NASA talking about what was, at that time, the "next step" in space exploration. Something called the Space Shuttle. This was a cross between a rocket and and an airplane. This particular space vehicle would have reusable fuel tanks that would fall of the rocket and parachute to the ocean. They would then be retrieved to be used again. The shuttle, instead of falling in to the ocean, would become like an airplane when it returned and the pilot would land it on a runway. It was all so futuristic then.
I remember the first test flight. They put the space shuttle on top of a 747 airplane then let it go so that the pilot could see if they would be able to land it on a runway.
I remember being in class at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA when one of the instructors came in and told our instructor that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded. He was speaking German when he said it, and I thought to myself that I surely had misunderstood. Unfortunately, I had understood perfectly.
I remember a few years later stopping by my dad's office to have lunch with him and watching as the Space Shuttle program got back in to space for the first time since that explosion.
So, if I can make this work it looks like it may take an extra year or two for me collect all of the states. But that's ok. My plan is to be running for many more years than that, so why put a time limit on it?
