If you are reading through articles on this website, chances are you have a drawer or drawers full of race t-shirts. When I got my first race shirt I was super excited. Fast forward a decade, and the thrill has largely worn off. I still enjoy them from certain events that are especially challenging or are associated with fond memories, but the bottom line is most other athletes and I probably have too many race shirts. Here are a couple of options you can consider if you are in the boat as me.
Donate Them:
Charities are always looking for donations of clothing. This option not only helps you by getting rid of some shirts, but also helps those less fortunate. You can go home at night and feel happy about doing a good deed for the day. Nothing says OCR like a malnourished child in a 3rd world country rocking a Spartan Ultra Beast Finisher shirt.
Make a Quilt:
If you are talented, you may be able to pull this one off by yourself. If not, a company will turn your shirts into a quilt for you (racequilt.com). Now when you snuggle up at night next to your mound of Icebug shoes while sipping on your Beet Elite, you can lay under your race quilt while watching ESPN2’s coverage of the Battlefrog College Championship. Now that you fixed that problem, you can focus on how to profess your love to Corinna Coffin without aggravating her Team OCR Gear-Icebug and Strength & Speed sponsored athlete Kevin Righi.
Turn Them into Pillows:
After making a quilt the size of your couch, you may still have extra t-shirts leftover. After a quick search on pinterest, you can easily pull up some directions to make yourself some race pillows. These will be especially useful when you show up to the walk on line for American Ninja Warrior and wait 8 days for your 2 minutes of obstacle glory, which most likely will not be aired on TV.
Frame Them:
If you are looking at your trophy wall (or room), you may be thinking “I am missing something here.” Sure, the world knows you love OCR as evident by the stickers on your car, your endless stream of Facebook posts and that Atlas Race and Superhero Scramble tattoos, which you now regret. If you still feel like something is missing, you can frame your shirts with relatively cheap frames (~$15) from stores like Hobby Lobby. Now there is no doubt in your family’s mind that you are an OCR athlete, because they could not tell by all the bibs, rack of medals, your weekly OCR Warrior screening parties, your monthly announcement that Hobie Call retired or your family vacations centered around races.
Stop Wearing Non-OCR Clothing:
This is my personal favorite technique. Nothing says I am obsessed like moth balling all your non-OCR clothing. “But what if you have a formal event?” No problem, the moisture wicking race shirts make a great undershirt for formal men’s wear. If you really want to be bold, wear a white dress shirt so that Tough Mudder logo is still visible through your shirt. “What about the ladies?” Don’t worry, you can still wear your X Racewear Tight Fit Run Shorts under your dress. You can even use that bib pocket to hold your ID, credit card and pieces of paper with a fake phone number to give out to guys.
Keep following Mud Run Guide. Up next…some suggestions on what to do with your race bibs.