I am not one of those people. I adore races! I don't really race them, mind you. I just go at my regular old pace, but surrounded by the energy of a likeminded crowd of people. Not to mention you get a shirt, and a medal, and food, and maybe even some cool freebies at the expo. It's like everything I want all in one place!
But then a few months go by, and that new medal is just getting lost in the pile I have in the corner of the bookcase. I could get one of those cool medal holders to display all of my race bling, but I have a better way to deal with those medals.
Enter Medals4Mettle (M4M). They will happily take those old medals you have and use them to do something fantastic. All of the donated medals are given a new M4M ribbon and then sent out to a worldwide network of physicians and volunteers. Here's the best part. Those physicians and volunteers gift the medals to children and adults fighting debilitating illnesses. The recipients of M4M medals may not be able to run a race, but their efforts in fighting their disease, in struggling every day for the chance to live their life, are recognized through the gift of a marathon medal.
M4M accepts medals that were earned from a half-marathon or longer running event, or triathlon event. You can look up your local Chapter on their website so you know where to send your medals. They also have mailing instructions and an online fillable Donation Form handily accessible from their website. Check out their donation page for all the information you'll need to send in your medals!
http://www.medals4mettle.org/donate.html
If you've ever seen my facebook page, you may recognize the photo above. A very similar image is often my cover photo. It's the picture I took of all my race medals before donating them to M4M. I had a blast earning each and every one of those medals. The sense of pride I got upon donating those medals was even better.
I hope that you'll pick a medal or two to send in to M4M and help recognize that "someone is in a tougher race than you right now."
