Earn It To Own It: The Boston Marathon Wardrobe
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 10:14AM by Melissa Field
I’ve noticed a recent trend: non-Boston qualifiers wearing Boston Marathon merchandise. There are many controversial topics within the running community so let’s just go ahead and add this one to the list. Should you be wearing Boston Marathon clothes if you’ve never qualified for Boston?
We all know it’s a free country and you can wear what you want, but wearing a Boston Marathon shirt says something. It says you qualified for Boston.
Except that lately it doesn’t. The Boston Marathon, with its record sellout time, has become the Harvard of marathons. It’s prestigious and difficult. We all want to feel talented, special, and accomplished. Run Boston and you’ve achieved what most marathoners see as the equivalent to earning an Ivy League degree in running. Wear a Boston Marathon shirt and people will assume you qualified, even if you didn’t.
As with all controversial topics, everyone has an opinion. My personal opinion: you should run it to wear it. In the spirit of honesty, let me confess that I have never qualified for Boston. I am not that fast. Maybe one day after endless tempo runs, fartleks, and long runs, the marathon clock will shine down upon me with a glowing qualifying time. Until that day, I will not sport the blue and yellow.
When I first started running, I saw a commercial featuring a series of runners looking euphoric as they crossed a finish line. One woman fell to her knees to kiss the ground while the caption across the screen read, “There are three words every runner lives to say: I ran Boston.” I remember this ad not for its Boston Marathon reference but for the feeling of euphoria it evoked.
When you aspire toward a goal and achieve it, the feeling is undeniably sweet. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been able to capture this feeling. I say one hand because moments like these are rare. They usually come after much suffering and self-doubt. They come after I’ve quite literally run on faith, and left every ounce of effort on the road. This is what the Boston Marathon is all about. It’s not about looking cool and enviable in a fancy shirt. It’s about earning a special and rare moment.
For those of us who will never win a marathon, the Boston Marathon serves as a realistic goal worth striving for. It is the promise of improvement and achievement that motivates so many of us to move every day. Without these promises, training would be meaningless, and without earning a goal, a shirt is also meaningless.
Looking to make this the year you qualify to run Boston? Check out some of the great marathon training plans we offer from top coaches and authors like Hal Higdon, Runners World and more here or get the workouts from Running Times to create your own. Get started on your path to earning your own Boston gear TODAY!
Melissa Field was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado and grew up skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and running. After earning a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master’s degree in Public/Government Administration at the University of Pennsylvania, Melissa reacquainted with her childhood passion and began running road races. In 2008, she started a monthly column for Philadelphia Runner. In addition to the running column, Melissa continues to work in public policy. You can visit Melissa's webiste here.
Reader Comments (12)
I got a jacket from an adidas tent in the parking lot of an outlet store mall in Chicago last year, I honestly didn't see the boston logo on until I wore it for the first time. But I was more worried about having bought the adidas 2009 boston marathon jacket for $11 bucks than wearing it having not qualified. I wear it, if someone asks I just say they we're giving them away. So I guess the respected item would be your medal as the shirts, jackets and other apparel don't seem to have that much value.
If it makes anyone feel better a few years ago my dad ran boston and I was there to cheer. So let's not get that serious with stuff that doesn't really matter.
Hold on to your medal, that for sure won't be sold out for 11 bucks at an outlet mall tent in the parking lot.
I',m still training to earn mine.
Yes, it is a disappointing trend I agree. I was at Boston last year to cheer on a friend and came away feeling like you really don't know who is a true Boston Marathoner. BTW - I mean true as you qualified not that you got a lottery spot or bought your space through a fund raising event but really put in the miles at a qualifying race to earn the spot. Be it Boston or Ironman if you didn't finish it you shouldn't wear it!
Qualifying for and running in Boston is an accomplishment only a small percentage of runners ever accomplish. Other's wearing BM logowear simply honors the event and doesn't take anything away from anyone unless of course you do so in your own mind. Since this issue will never go away, I'd look at it as other's showing respect for the event and those that run in it.
Get over it. I have baseball shirts from pro teams and was never on a team. I have a Cardinals jersey and I'm not on that team either.
I see people wearing event clothing, who probably did not participate, all the time. Event managers and sponsors like it. It is advertising for them. I just don't want to pay for those items. My son and I both qualified for Boston this fall and will be running it in 2012. I hope to get a shirt in the grab bag. If not, I think I'll get a Cheers shirt instead. I hear it comes with a free beer;-)
I like this post, and it hits home - my dad gave me his Silverman backpack because I needed a bag and he has many of them by now. I had mixed feelings at first - I did not "earn" the bag and am not part of the club since I didn't race. But when it comes down to it, a) I'm proud of HIM and if anyone asks, I'll happily tell them what the bag means to me (and what it doesn't), b) these things take resources to make, so I'd rather see them used than just stored, and c) the shirt isn't what makes Boston amazing any more than the bag is why my dad races Silverman. People who don't understand the links among challenge, effort, and true pride might buy a shirt to try to look cool - but if you're one of the people who think "cool" runs a bit deeper, why would you care what the others try to pass themselves off as?
charities are honorable so I say wear the shirt with pride. I may do a charity as I have a child living in Boston for a year and am just short of qualifying. she and her friends really want me to run. Maybe I will one day I will actually qualify. Am working on it.
I agree with not wearing rce stuff unless you are a finisher. However, with a ton of this stuff being sold at local malls many people will buy it. Sadly, the people outside of the endurance world may not even know what they are buying. Kind of like when popular stores make retro t-shirts with highschool sports teams on it. many of they things on the shirts are real school team, but unless you are fromt eh small town they pick you don't even know what youa re wearing. Same concept here, The people striveing for it tend not to wear it until they earn it.
Where does the elitist attitude come from that would even give a moments thought about someone wearing clothing from Boston or an Ironman race that did not actually do it? If someone has to hoard such clothing to gloat and brag about their own accomplishments, they missed the purpose of the whole journey.
Boston or any other race, I do not wear the shirt until AFTER I completed the event.
ESPECIALLY for Boston there should be a distinction between...merchandise shirts/jackets available to anyone and everyone and an official RACE shirt - one only perticipants get. You qualified, you were able to register fast enough...you deserve to stand out against someone who just paid the money and wore the shirt.
Just my 2 cents.
A while back Nike did a set of technical shirts with silk screens of races and events relevant to Prefontaine. I bought one - liked it - says something like 'Hayward Invitational'. Did I run that race? No. But is it cool that Nike realizes that it owes a tremendous amount to an amazing athlete whose life was cut short?
So my view is no big deal. Plus, I have some race shirts from events I couldn't finish because of last minute logistical problems. The shirts are very good - and I am not going to waste using them because of moral quandry. If asked, I'll readily say 'I never ran it because of _____'.
At some point, you're just looking for a shirt to run in.
I agree that this has a bit of an elitist tone to it, but at least sports elitism is built on real accomplishment. The post reminds me of my own experience running the New York Marathon a few years ago.
I had completed my best training season ever and was excited to set a PR in the race. At 10 miles, I was on pace to run 3:10, which would have blown my old PR out of the water. That's when the GI distress started.
By the time we crossed onto Manhattan, I was hurting bad. I walked all of Queens and Harlem, pausing often to lie down on the sidewalk to make my head stop spinning.
What kept me going? One thing only. The day before I had bought the official race windbreaker at the expo. After spending $70, or whatever, on that piece of clothing, there was no way I was going to drop out of the race. I couldn't imagine wearing it if I didn't finish.
When I crossed the finish line at 5:30, I felt a lot of things, but maybe the biggest feeling the relief of being able to wear that windbreaker.