How Many Race T-shirts Does One Runner Need?

May 17, 2014

In addition to a mug with a carabiner for a handle, a pint glass with a design made of lead-based paint, a cup, a fleece vest, a visor, two jackets, two tote bags, four belt buckles, 18 coasters, and some water bottles, I have accumulated my fair share of race t-shirts in my nearly 10 years of ultrarunning. I'm moving back to California next week, so it's time to catalog them and throw away/donate the old ones.

The ones that aren't really race T's:

A gift from a friend. A club of which I am not really a member. One of my favorites.

A club of which I was once a member. They only had mediums. Boo.

Same club. Nice people, but still no smalls.

I only have a couple tank tops. Big fan.

I might've walked across the entire country in this thing, but I can't be sure. What I do know is that paying a brand name price for a tech-T is stupid when you can get one from Target for $12.

Smartwool. Itchy.

Smartwool. Not as itchy, but wool definitely doesn't last as long as synthetic, especially if you're wearing a pack.

Basically a plain white tank top worn so much you can no longer tell it was made by Nike. So good.

From 2004. God I was so proud of this one. Several dozen people in the October 2004 Silicon Valley Marathon were wearing one of these.

The orange shirt my dad bought me so I wouldn't get shot while hiking the CDT in hunting season.

Free with some Brooks shoes that I later returned.

The actual Race T's:

2103 Philly Marathon. Because I spent two years of my life in a Philly suburb.

In 2009 I came in third in my age group in PCTR's annual race series. Probably only four people competed. This shirt has a really weird cut to it. Getting trashed.

My favorite park, and one of my best 50k times, but the shirt is so thin it's nearly transparent.

Seriously people. Stop running out of size smalls! Fine, order more mediums and larges than smalls, but it's not rocket science to know that what matters is how many extras you have left over at the end, and I have never once heard anyone at a race say they're out of larges. Obese people, this is all your fault.

Run around in circles for 24 hours, get a free shirt.

Run around in circles for another 24 hours. I still need to break 100 miles at this thing.

This race was brutal.

My first 50-miler, and only my second ultra. It's Dri-release, so it's 15% cotton, and it's getting a little threadbare after 9 years, but I love this guy.


2008 Diablo 50 Miler

2009 Diablo 50 Miler. I've run this race 5 times, then they stopped holding it.

The 100 Milers:

It was 103 degrees when I ran this race, and I ran my fastest time. It's a great shirt, too.

2009 Headlands Hundred. Four 25 mile loops, run washing machine style. I've run way too many races starting and ending at Rodeo Beach now.

This one I only volunteered at.

2011 Badger Mountain 100. This race was, and apparently still is, horribly organized. Do not run it.

Good run with my buddy Nano.

Wasatch. As much as I loved that race, this design is way too large, front and back, to actually be comfortable if worn running.

More Race T's:

2013 JFK 50. Whoever chose the color scheme for this shirt needs to be figuratively dragged out into the street and shot in broad daylight as a warning to t-shirt designers everywhere. Also, there were no size smalls. Zero smalls at the ultra with the largest entry field in the country, which is idiocy.