Let’s be honest, there are two major reasons why I run: 1. The more you run, the more you can eat carbs, ice cream and Oreos without turning into a whale. 2. If you do said running in the form of a race, you get some really awesome medals!
I love the medals that I’ve gotten so far, so I’d been hoarding them, trying to come up with something to do with them, until finally I came up with this:
A whole wall of running medals, bibs and photos may be a bit extreme for some people, but I really liked the idea for my desk or office space. (And it helps that for now I’ve started with just making these four so it doesn’t overtake much of the wall at all…)
I’m not artistically inclined, but these were incredibly simple to make. Here’s the how-to:
1. Get some shadow box frames. I purchased four of these white 12″x12″ frames on Amazon, and I definitely recommend them or anything similar. I wouldn’t go any smaller than 12″x12″ if you’re looking to include both the bib and the medal.
2. Make sure to save and gather your race memorabilia. Grab your medal, race number, and any other keepsakes from the race, including some printed photos. (I unfortunately had already lost/thrown away some of my race bibs when I decided on the shadow boxes for preserving my medals, which I was a bit bummed about because I really like the look of them with the bib numbers included! I’ll be making a point to save them from now on and for sure recommend the same! 🙂 )
3. Purchase colored paper, decals, photo squares and/or double-sided tape. For my shadow boxes, I wanted colored paper that complemented the color of the race number and/or the medal. I also knew I’d have some little spaces to fill in, so picked up just a couple stickers or running related decals.
4. Fiddle around with your layout and then simply mount everything with the photo squares and double-sided tape! As mentioned, this project really doesn’t even need four steps because it’s so easy. Once you have everything you need, decide on a layout, and add the mounting squares or double-sided tape to the back of everything and stick it down. Fair warning, you really only have once shot at sticking it down well, so make sure you’ve planned out where you want everything.
I was worried about the medals staying in place since they’re so heavy, but so far they’ve stayed in place well with an excessive number of the permanent wall-mounting squares.
And viola! You’re done!
(I’m also always looking for other ideas for race medals, so please feel free to leave comments with other suggestions or photos of what you may have done!)
