Running T-Shirt Quilt

Photo by OHventures

As an avid runner, my dresser drawers slowly began to overflow with race t-shirts I have collected over the many years of hitting the pavement. 

At first, it's really cool to get a new t-shirt every time you run - it can serve as a memento of a great accomplishment and fantastic experience had with friends. But, if you do 10, 15, even 20 races a year like I do, then it begins to take over your wardrobe, and your storage! A friend once asked if I had anything other than suits and running t-shirts, because he'd see me wearing them so often. Unacceptable.

So I decided it was time to do something about it. As part of my 30 Things To Do Before (While) I'm 30, I set out to have a quilt made using some old running t-shirts! It was a genius idea that I had seen before on Groupon. But rather than sending shirts off to a random company, I put the call out to my friends on Facebook to see if anyone had any ideas of where or who I could go to for a t-shirt quilt.

Many people stepped up and offered ideas, but one friend of mine, Rick, stepped up in a big way. He said that he had always wanted to try to make a quilt, but never had a reason to. If I trusted him, he said he would be willing to make a quilt for me. Instead of monetary payment, he said he would like to have a sampling of wines I gathered from all of my various wineries I visited across the state. It was a perfect match! 

I had to figure out which shirts I could use. He said he could take 20. There were some that I didn't want to give up because I really enjoy wearing them and they are too cool to give up. And there are some that - let's face it - are so ugly that I didn't even want them on a quilt. I wanted ones that looked good and were from races that had special meaning to me. So, after meticulous planning, I came up with a good mix of shirts. 

The shirts are, as displayed on the quilt:

Row 1 (l-r)

Capital City Quarter Marathon - May 2013, Columbus

Boardman Memorial Mile - May 2013, Boardman

Capital City Half Marathon - May 2012, Columbus (my first half marathon)

Run With The Pack 5K - June 2012, Columbus (first run I did with my dog)

Row 2 (l-r)

World Fit 5K - May 2014, Warren (my brother helped organize this race)

Selfless Elf 5K - December 2013, Akron

Glo Run Columbus - April 2013, Columbus

Arnold Pump & Run 5K 2014 - March 2014, Columbus

Row 3 (l-r)

Hubbard Public Library Zombie Run - October 2012, Hubbard

Oktoberfest Brat Trot 4 Miler - September 2012, Columbus

Warrior Dash Ohio 2014 - August 2014, North Lawrence

Out Of The Darkness Walk - October 2014, North Canton (in honor of my cousin)

Row 4 (l-r)

Team OHventures T-Shirts (a shirt I designed for the blog)

Warren Kiwanis Turkey Trot - November 2012, Warren (started our family tradition)

Funny Bunny 4 Miler - April 2014, Canton (took place on my birthday)

Foam Fest 5K - June 2013, Logan

Row 5 (l-r)

Akron Marathon Relay 2014 - September 2014 Akron

Bike Columbus Festival – July 2012, Columbus (first biking event)

Dirty Dog 5K Run & Wash - July 2013, Avon Lake

Akron Gen. Birthday Bash Dash 5K - August 2014, Stow (I was Race Director)

These shirts were the perfect shirts to have made into a quilt. And, Rick certainly delivered with a high quality and great looking quilt (not too shabby for his first quilt making experience). Having this quilt has transformed a pile of t-shirts shoved in a dresser into a unique, meaningful and timeless piece of art (that also doubles as a comfy blanket). 

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Rick for making this happen. This is an item I will always value. One look at it brings back a flood of memories of friends and stories I have made in my running career that has truly changed my life in a number of ways. It's something you can't put a price tag on. No amount of wine can show my appreciation for this great creation!

20 Races in 2013

Believe it or not, I participated in a total of 20 walk/run events in 2013, doubling the amount of races I ran in 2012! Most of the events had a fun element added in, such as running through foam (Logan 5K Foam Fest) or running with your dog (Run With The Pack 5K, Avon Lake Dirty Dog Run)! Many were done to support a cause, such as the Memory Walk for Alzheimer's or the Brace Against Hunger 5K. Most were 5Ks, but some were longer, such as the Capital City Patron Quarter Marathon, and some were shorter, such as the Boardman Memorial Mile. Each was fun and exciting in their own way, and I am happy to have successfully completed over 62.55 competitive miles in one year!

Below, you can find links to all 20 of these events from 2013, in chronological order! Hopefully these can give you ideas for races you can run in the New Year!

1. Fight For Air Stair Climb (February 2013 - 880 steps in 7:48 - Columbus)
2. Arnold Pump & Run 5K (March 2013 - 3.1 miles in 20:00 - Columbus)
3. Glo Run 5K (April 2013 - 3.1 miles in 31:00 - Columbus)
4. Boston Strong Ohio (April 2013 - 4 miles, untimed - Columbus)
5. Akron Color Vibe 5K (April 2013 - 3.1 miles in 26:00 - Akron)
6. Capital City Patron Quarter Marathon (May 2013 - 6.55 miles in 56:55 - Columbus)
7. Boardman Memorial Mile (May 2013 - 1 mile in 09:05 - Boardman)
8. Run With The Pack 5K (June 2013 - 3.1 miles in 39:00 - Columbus)
9. Foam Fest 5K (June 2013 - 3.1 miles in 50:00 - Logan)
10. Darby Creek Trail Run (July 2013 - 6.2 miles in 1:03:00 - Galloway)
11. Avon Lake Dirty Dog 5K (July 2013 - 3.1 miles in 32:00 - Avon Lake)
12. Warrior Dash Ohio II (August 2013 - 3.1 miles in 37:53 - North Lawrence)
13. Brace Against Hunger 5K @ Gervasi (September 2013 - 3.1 miles in 24:23 - North Canton)
14. Akron Marathon (September 2013 - 4.8 miles in 39:40 - Akron)
15. Youngstown Peace Race (October 2013 - 2 miles in 14:38 - Youngstown)
16. Memory Walk For Alzheimer's (October 2013 - 1 mile, untimed - Boardman)
17. Ohio State 4 Miler (November 2013 - 4 miles in 33:57 - Columbus)
18. Kent State Stark Turkey Trot (November 2013 - 3.1 miles in 26:00 - North Canton)
19. Warren Kiwanis Turkey Trot (November 2013 - 2 miles in 16:20 - Warren)
20. Selfless Elf 5K (December 2013 - 3.1 miles in 24:16 - Akron)

5K Foam Fest Recap

Photos by OHventures

Described as running through a "giant carwash," the 5K Foam Fest on June 29 had me STOKED for down and dirty fun! This year, FOAM is the new mud. With a plethora of obstacles to tackle, including mud pits to get you really dirty, and foamy pits to get you really clean, the 5K Foam Fest was going to be a wild and unique experience (just what I like)!

Taking place in the Appalachian foothills of Logan in Hocking County, this mud run was destined to be one intense undertaking. Much like the Warrior Dash race I ran in Carrollton, I knew that there would be monstrous hills along the course that would serve as the biggest obstacle of all! And, boy was I right!

The setting for the 5K Foam Fest was Kaeppner's Woods, a major camping destination, and a frequent host to various mud runs (try the Superhero Scramble on August 3 or the Great American Mud Run on September 14). This park is located just over an hour away from Grandview, where me and my pal Jared both live. It had been close to 10 years since Jared had run his last 5K (let alone a mud run), and needless to say he was rather reluctant to the whole idea! But, I used my charming ways to convince him to let loose and join me on the drive out to Logan for something a bit outside of his comfort zone.

Our wave was at 11:40 AM, so we naturally left bright and early at 9 AM so we would have enough time to stop for coffee (potassium in black coffee is actually really good for you before a run, FYI), drive through scenic Southeast Ohio, and get familiar with our surroundings before the wave took off! While we had bibs (which I had picked up from Road Runner Sports the day before), the race was in fact not timed, which was rather disappointing to me. I estimated that we would complete the race in about 50 minutes. Jared (having never run a race full of obstacles) thought that was way too long of a race time, but soon found out that I was pretty accurate!

Before I realized that the slides were indeed broken!

After we parked, changed, stretched, fueled, and peed (TMI?), we took a look around at parts of the course that we could see on our walk from the car to the starting line. We were very disappointed to discover that the massive "Death Drop" inflatable slide (pictured above) was out of commission because some jackass from an earlier heat had cleats on and ripped through the plastic! This was not a good sign. The giant slide - which was said to be the largest in the world - was advertised as one of the highlights of the race. 

Despite the broken slide, Jared and I still had high hopes. We saw a lot of people walking away with goodies, and we saw a tent of free Mike's Hard Lemonade, so we knew that there'd be some handsome rewards waiting for us at the finish line. I also ended up seeing an old high school buddy, Scott, with some of his OSU friends which was a pleasant surpirise (it really is a small world after all). 

With about 15 minutes until our start time, Jared and I got ourselves to the front of the pack near the starting line. Soon, we heard the DJ advise us to "not eat the foam" as loads and loads of suds came shooting out from the archway above us! we passed the soapy stuff around, basically taking a clothed shower before our run! The horn blew and off we went! 

It wasn't long until we were greeted with our first obstacle, The Stumpy Jumper, which was a giant inflatable bouncy ball arena with hidden pits full of foam and water! Jared took a huge tumble and even got a mouthful of suds in the process! But we didn't let this slow us down! We kept running along the course to soon find a wooden wall to scale over, followed by my very favorite of the obstacles: The Lily Pad! Here, you basically had to run on top of floating rafts across a small pond. You had to run at full force and you couldn't stop, otherwise, you would start to sink! It was a load of fun "walking on water!" 

The inevitable GIANT ass hill came next. It was hands down the toughest part of the course!!! It felt like we were scaling a mountain - a very, very muddy mountain that seemed to keep going and going forever and ever. Seriously this thing was a beast. And a bitch. This is where I left Jared behind. He said there was no way that he or anyone else could keep up with my pace. My philosophy was that I would go as fast as I could so I used my momentum to propel me up quicker and prevent me from falling. It definitely drained me of some energy, but it also got my adrenaline pumping! I kept going and going just like the Energizer Bunny!

At the top of the hill, there were a few folks who had stopped to rest, and some who had even stopped to give up, as they physically just could not go any further. There was also a small "Trip Wire" obstacle at the top before you had to take the path to the bottom of the hill, which was almost as challenging as going up the hill!

On level ground once again, there was a fun series of obstacles I zoomed through: the colorful and sudsy "Bouncy Ball Attack," the "Spider Web Forest," another dead foam obstacle that was ruined by someone's cleats, and the "Giant Cargo Net." I heard someone say that I deserved a high five for how fast I was going (sorry for the humblebrag). At the cargo net, there was a line, so Jared caught up with me and we did the last portion of the race together: the Water Crossing, 8 Foot Walls, Mud Pit, Electric Charged Barbed Wire, 30 Foot Slip 'N Slide (above), Inner Tube Crossing, and the Grand Finale: the 50 Foot Slip 'N Slide (below).

It was so thrilling to slide into the finish line (literally), get our medals, and gather all of our goods!! It was truly an exhilerating race and one of my favorites I have EVER done! We took some professional photos (post-race pics never ever turn out to be flattering, but I included it below anyhow), got our booze, and our complimentary food and t-shirts! After making new friends and gulping down our shandy, we stripped down (not in the nude of course) and rinsed off in the showers. 

We had a few bumps and scrapes, but it's all in a day's work! Jared has definitely caught the running bug and is looking forward to running his next fun-filled race! If he can do it, you can do it!