2011 was a good year for racing. So good, in fact, that I ran 12 of them! That number would have been higher if Mother Nature had gotten her mind right and stopped hitting us with this abnormal, abhorrent weather. Two races were cancelled due to a hurricane and one due to an unusually early snowstorm. But where these races were erased, there was always another to take its place. Of course, with each race, a souvenir shirt is provided, lest you forget what all that training throughout the year was for. PR's come and go, but a race shirt remains the same forever! Below, you can find my 2011 race shirt round-up, even including those of the defunct competitions, listed from least fave to most.
What were YOUR favorite race shirts from last year?
Do I really need to say anything as to why this race shirt is in dead last place? Join the Voices was the last team points race of the year and I actually had the time of my life running it, but I'm just really unsure why they made this shirt suck so much. It's cluttered with at least four different fonts of various sizes and the yellow stick person drawing is barely visible. However, there is a much better graphic on the back, so maybe there was a mix-up at the printer.
The United Arab Emirates was the sponsor of this race and actually had one of the nicest, most engaging finishing villages of all the races that I ran this year. But this shirt is just such a weird shade of grey that my mind has a conniption fit every time it has to try to register exactly what color this is. This photo does NOT due justice to the awkward ugliness of this grey shirt.
Out of all the races this year, the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K was the one smaller race that was looking most forward to. I ran this race last year and it's pretty hilly, but it's up in Harlem, which makes for a much needed change of scenery. Unfortunately, this race was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. But even being one of my favorite races doesn't save it from being at the back of the pack on my 2011 race shirt round-up.
Oh, look it's a BROWN t-shirt. WTF? Who decided this was a good idea? (One of my favorite races from this past year, though!)
No one looks good in orange. NO ONE.
I actually really like this shade of green, but think that the shirt still sucks overall. It's made of a thick, unforgiving material and the cut is very boxy and unflattering.
Like the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K, this race was cancelled because of Hurricane Irene. This race shirt ranks the highest out of all the other borough half marathons because it's the only tank top that I received all year long. Besides, you can never go wrong with heather grey!
This was one of the shorter races that I ran in 2011, but having to shovel six Krispy Kreme doughnuts down my throat halfway through a 5K made it one of the toughest. I apparently came in second in my age group, which I had no idea about until writing up this post today! This race was the highlight of my trip to Winston-Salem, NC, but you'd think that the race shirt for a doughnut run would be a little more lively than just two footprints. I feel like it's a complete disconnect of messaging.
This was my first half marathon ever, so it's hard for me to say anything negative about this race shirt. I'll just say that the shirt for the NYC Half Marathon wasn't the worst that I saw throughout the year, but it was far from the best.
I'm really not the biggest fan of this shirt. I had to take a size larger at packet pick-up because they were all out of my actual size, despite having boxes put aside for day-of pick-up. Why this is the case is completely incomprehensible and I'm still pretty salty over now having a race shirt that is ridiculously big and that I would never wear again when I knew they had a secret stash of Smalls. I didn't let that stop me from getting a new PR though and I guess the graphic is cute. *shrugs*
This race is super special to me because it's the first/ only time that I placed overall in a race. This was also my first NYCRUNS race! While this shirt for the Great Irish Fair 5K may be just a tad bit busy, I really like the combination of the claddagh image and the Coney Island scene behind it. Now if I could only find someone to give me a real claddagh...
I actually really hated this race, but I still think this is a great race shirt. I used this race as the beginning of a 20 mile long run in Central Park, so I wasn't genuinely "racing" it and let's just say that run was a lot tougher than I thought it'd be. But the graphic for the Norwegian Festival/ Grete's Gallop is super adorable and it's actually a girl that's running the world in it! Girls rule, boys drool!
Ok, so technically, this isn't a race shirt, but it is from a running event and it's just too cute to not get a mention. I love when marketing materials actually try to engage people and I think National Running Day was pretty effect in doing that. You can actually fill this shirt in with any reason that you run! IE: "I run... in Brooklyn" or "I run... to give the boys on the block something to gawk at because I secretly love all the cat calls!" Whatever your reason is, you can now showcase it to the world! L-O-V-E this shirt!
This race was actually cancelled due to a freak snow storm at the end of October, which is the only reason it's at #3. This shirt is incredibly, American Apparel-y soft. I think I'd actually prefer to get t-shirts made of this material than tech shirts. You can really only have so many tech shirts before they become useless. No one is just going to throw on a tech shirt to bum around town, but a t-shirt like this? I'd wear this all the time... and, actually, I do! Also, it rates extremely high in snuggle-ability, which is the most important of scales!
If I had actually ran this race, it would been really hard for me to leave this shirt at second place. It's this amazing vibrant royal blue and out of all my tech shirts-- even the ones that I've actually purchased-- this one definitely fits the best. The cut is nice and slim and forms perfectly to the curves of my body. Unfortunately, I only handled all of the communications for the Brooklyn Marathon, so it'll just have to settle for second... this year.
How could this NOT be my favorite race shirt from 2011? This was my first marathon ever and it was the NYC Marathon! Over 120,000 people clamored to be apart of this race and I was one of only 47,000 that made it in. I mean, I had guaranteed entry, but still! Besides, with this dark teal color, it's as if this shirt was made solely for Irish girls with light eyes. Best color choice EVER, NYC Marathon!
What a good idea! Love the rundown of shirts and you def picked the right one for #1. A bit disappointing the NYC Half shirt, not a fan at all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info! I am designing a race shirt for an event and this was very helpful!
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