I am amazed that I have been running races now for three full years and have entered my 4th this year. Back in the Fall of 2004 I never thought I would ever run a race. Earlier in that year I took a terrible fall down my apartment steps. Saw the doctor three days later and he said it was just a really bad sprain. Well in the Fall of 2004 this injury came back to haunt me. It got to the point where I couldn't even run for the bus without being in terrible pain. I saw a specialist and endured six months of physical therapy for the tendonitis in my ankle.
During a three month checkup in the middle of my treatment, my doctor asked me how important it was to me to be able to run again. I immediately answered, "Very important!". Three months later after all the hardwork I was given the go ahead to run. I was terrified. I was scared I was going to feel the pain and would never be able to run, neverless fulfill my dream of running a marathon. Well fortunately the therapy paid off and I was able to look forward to running my very first race ever in 2005.
The above picture shows almost all of my racing t-shirt's that I have accumulated during these years of racing. There are a couple missing from the pile because some of my favorites I train in and they are currently in the laundry pile. So which one am I the most proud of? It, of course, is my 2006 ING NYC Marathon t-shirt. I worked so hard during 2005 to fulfill the race requirement to get guaranteed entry into the marathon. Then I put in five months of long, hard and sometimes lonely training (think about running a 20 mile long run all by yourself). All the sweat and tears was so worth it and whenever I wear this t-shirt, I wear it proudly. I can't wait to run the marathon again this year.
So with all of these t-shirt's what am I to do with them? Well, these t-shirt's here are from my first year of racing. I have always wanted to have them made into a quilt. However, this is not a task I am going to attempt myself. I am way to inexperienced in quilting and I don't want to screw up these shirts that mean more to me than I think anyone would believe.Maybe one day I can find someone who has the talent to create this for me. I would much rather pay someone who I trust and believe in their work. I know I can always get a company to do it for me, and I will if I have to, but I rather give the cash to someone close to me than a complete stranger that is just a company name. We'll see what happens.
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your successful running! I hope you find a quilter to make your special quilt, I think it will be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou can quilt it! Be bold. Your crafting family will help you figure it out. You are a running machine, incredible. I know how much work that is, the Huz did the NYC marathon one year, and it's too much work for me. Kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteI came across a series(5 part) of articles on the making of a t-shirt quilt. Check out http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/teequilts_how.html.
ReplyDeleteIf you get the right materials (interfacing) you probably will find this an easy project. The worst part would be the fusing to get the sturdiness needed for the t-shirt's block itself. I'll embroider some of your plain blocks for you w/ memory info if you want. If you mail the t's, I'll make them up w/ interfacing into the squares you need then you can make them into sashed blocks.
A quilt from your race t-shirts is a great idea! Mr. Kim used to have a butt load of shirts from his NY RoadRunner days. He still wears some of them. I wonder what happened to his Marathon t-shirt. I have his 15K Hot Chocolate run giant coffee mug in my cube right now. It's from Dec. 16, 2001.
ReplyDeleteThats alot of t-shirts...great idea to use them to create a t-shirt quilt. Iam sure you can do this yourself if you put your mind to it.
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