#TBT : Race Shirts

Took a little stroll down memory lane last night as I chopped up race shirts for my Project Repat blanket.  There were a few shirts that I really had a hard time cutting but I'm sure I will get much more use out of them as a quilt this winter than I have running.  I'm also thankful I had enough shirts that I still have ones to wear for running :)

ignore the random computer parts on the floor

I really don't know how I want them organized.  Right now, they are roughly in order by year, starting on the left and going down but I don't like how the first 3 shirts (River Bank Run 2006 5k, 2007 5k, 2010 10k) are all white.  Obviously, the shirt quality and color selections improved from 2006 to 2014.  The sizes also got smaller :)

The only ones I know I would like together are the runDisney shirts.  Tinker Bell, Wine and Dine and my Coast to Coast shirts are sort of a set, right?  Maybe if I request that, they'll be cool with it.  I think I'm going to let them have at it for the rest of the design.

What do you do with your old race shirts?  Every made a t-shirt quilt?

#onesizedoesnotfitall #sizematters

Earlier this week, my friend Morgan over at CAUTION: Redhead Running put a call out to see our best fitting and worst fitting tech race shirts.  You see, not all of us girls are tall or shaped like beefy dudes, so when we go to pick up our *hopefully* awesome tech race shirts (that many of us pay extra for because cotton is just nasty), we hope and pray that they are going to fit.  Morgan is particularly tiny - so she has a heck of a time getting shirts that fit.  I'm short and curvy, so I tend to have a different problem.  

Let's take a peek at some of my best and worst fitting shirts! (Please excuse the crappy self-portraits as no one was home to help me take pics.  I at least had the common sense to photoshop/flip them so the writing is readable!)

We'll start with some of the worst:

2010 Grand Rapids Marathon

This was my first half and I love that they had long sleeve shirts.  The problem? Only men-sizes and the small is huge on me.  The funny thing is, I wear the shirt ALL THE TIME. I'm even wearing it to work today :)

2010 River Bank Run 10k

This race offers an upgrade to a tech shirt but only had men's sizes.  I think this is a medium and it fits ok except it is my biggest race-shirt pet peeve.  It's WHITE.  I NEVER wear it because I don't want the pits to turn yellow.  Gross but true.

2012 Tinker Bell Half Marathon

I really expected better for a Disney race shirt.  They offered women's fit (this is a medium), but the sleeves are REALLY long, it's WHITE, and it's freaking SEE THROUGH!!!! I love the v-neck though. Props for that.

2011 Grand Rapids Bridge Run 10 Mile

I LOVE the color of this shirt, but it's really big in the arms/shoulders - because it's a men's size small.  I do wear this shirt a lot and it's my fastest race-pace race, so I love it for that, too.

And now on to some of my awesome, well-fitting race shirts!  You might notice a theme.

2011 Grand Rapids Marathon

YEAH! They offered a women's fit shirt this year for my first full marathon!!! The material is awesome and I love the graphics and color.  The fit is perfect.  My only complaint?  They switched to short-sleeves :(  This is a fall race in Michigan and I really wish they would have kept with a long-sleeve shirt.

2011 River Bank Run 25k

They went with a women's cut for 2011 - SWEET!  I love the color of this shirt and the fit is perfect - look, I have a waist!  Also, a v-neck is super flattering on me.  I can't wait to see what our shirts look like this year for the 35th anniversary of the River Bank Run.

2011 Soldier Field 10 Mile

This is probably my favorite race shirt EVER.  It's a super flattering, women's cut shirt and the piping on the shoulders and arms just rocks.  Also, this is the race where I beat my husband to the 50 yard line at Soldier Field, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

There you go - proof that size really does matter!  Hopefully if enough women start tweeting and blogging and facebooking about this issue, we'll start seeing more women's fit tech shirts at our races.  Also, I wear a small or a medium, but there are a lot of female runners much smaller than me and much larger, so it would be nice to start seeing a wider variety of sizes than just small to extra-large.  

Do you have some favorite or horrific race shirts you'd like to share?  Link up with me here or with Morgan over at Redhead Running.  We'd love to see them!