The Connection Runners

Nuun Winner & A Race Bib Display Tutorial

Morning, ya'll.

First things first: The winner of last week's Nuun Giveaway is Tasha!

Tasha, email your address to me at roadagainmegan@gmail.com so I can send your prize to you!

Thanks to everyone for entering and reading this here blog.

***********

Let's talk about race bibs. Even if you've only been running a short while, you're probably starting to amass a collection that looks like this:

Kevin and I have been shoving the bibs in an old Boy Scout popcorn tin for years now, but we always wanted to display them somehow. You know, so we could use them as yet another running-based conversation starter.

We also needed some art for our recently remodeled basement walls. Our decor theme down there is going to be all things Michigan/Detroit related, and since we've run all of our races in this great Mitten State, why not turn the bibs into art?

I Googled the Interwebz and found a couple of different bib display posts. Here's what we ended up doing.

1. Pick up a poster-sized frame. I bought two from Michael's at 50% off; they ended up being about $15 each.

Initially, I made the mistake of buying the 24x36 size, which were slightly too large for the amount of bibs I wanted to showcase. A quick swap at Michael's left me with the 18x24 size - much better.

2. Lay out your bibs and decide which ones you'd like to feature. We've done a couple races multiple times, and a few were just small 5ks, so we left some out.

It was fun to go through all of the old numbers and remember all of the old races. Unfortunately, I'd thrown out a few precious bibs (like the ones from my first few races in 2003 and my first-ever half mary bib), and Kevin reminded me that I'm quick to throw away things.

Darn him for being right.

Pose with a couple of your favorite bibs.

3. "Clean up" your bibs by removing any safety pins and tearoff tags. If you have an OCD husband like me, he can group the safety pins into fours so they'll be ready to be pinned on your next race bib!

4. Now comes the hard part, if there is one. Arrange your bibs in a fun, creative pattern. This definitely took us awhile. Neither of us is super creative, and we were working with odd sizes and a handful of colors.

Also, we "dry" arranged (no tape or glue yet) on the back of the sheet of paper that comes in the frame. It was pretty sturdy, and that meant we didn't have to cut any cardstock or paper to fit the frame.

Try starting with a bib that you'll want prominently featured in the middle of the display, and then work your way out. Kevin and I both placed the green bib from our first Detroit marathon in the center.

If you have colored bibs like we do, alternate the placement as best you can with the plain white bibs.

5. Get your tape on. Once everything's arranged, it's time to tape it down. We used regular Scotch tape folded into little loops placed on the back of the bibs.

This part also took a bit of time because some of the bibs were either over or under others, and we wanted to maintain that as we went along with the tape.

Eventually, it was all taped down.

6. Slip the sheet back into the frame, and BOOM! You're done. You just made your own bib display art.

7. Hang it on the wall. We haven't done this yet, mostly because it was getting late last night; additionally, we want to do something with our race medals alongside the bib displays, and we haven't quite figured that out yet.

Right now, the medals reside in the Boy Scout popcorn tin, which I've heard is a pretty cosy place for a couple of race medals.

That's it! Whaddaya think?

How do you display your bibs and medals?