Thursday, January 30, 2014

Race Memories

Apart from hanging medals on the wall or displaying race bibs in a holder, how do you document your race accomplishments?

If you couldn’t tell, I’m a fan of pictures – so much so, I take a point and shoot camera with me pretty much every where I go. I love documenting life through photos and don’t want to miss an opportunity to capture memories on camera.

When I first began running, I made Shutterfly books for each major race I ran (ie. Half and Full Marathons). The Half Marathon received an 8x8 book and the Full Marathon a 12x12 book. I’m quite a few races behind on my Shutterfly albums, I know I need to get caught up. Unfortunately, I’m so OCD I spend hours working on these books (which isn’t always feasible to accomplish). Ah well, maybe one day!

Shutterfly Race Books

My other alternative is scrapbooking. I’m much closer to being caught up on my race scrapbooks than I am with the poor Shutterfly albums.

Running Race Scrapbooks 2

Each page of these two books contain pictures from every race I’ve ever run from 5K’s to mud runs to Half and Full Marathons. How do I keep up with it all? After each race, I fill a folder with race pictures on my computer. Once the pictures have been ordered, the file goes to my hard drive and off my desktop.

Running Race Scrapbooks

Here’s my scrapbooking “suitcase”. I think I need a desk to store all of these items so I don’t have to drag my supplies out every time I scrapbook. Hmmm…now there’s a thought! Oh Jason….hint hint….

Running Race Scrapbooks 1

I also keep Expo/race bag items together in a container in my closet. Along with pictures from each race, I also like to scrapbook with items from each race’s Expo/swag bag/race bib, course map, etc.  Once I’m finished with that page, I throw all of the extra items I’ll never use away (papers, fliers, etc).

Running Race Scrapbooks 5

Intro page to book one. :0)

Here’s a few sample pages:

Running Race Scrapbooks 3

My first ever “Disney Race”, the Castaway Cay 5K in April of 2009. It counts, right? Back in those days, we received a Magical Moments certificate of completion!

Running Race Scrapbooks 4

The Wine & Dine Half…see, I have my bib and everything!

And just because these two are coming up in a few days…

Running Race Scrapbooks 7

Rock N Roll New Orleans Full Marathon of 2012

Running Race Scrapbooks 6

…and the Princess Half of 2012!  (Secret: I even kept my race box of goodies…you know, the one they give you after the race? I cut out pieces from the box itself to use with these two pages!)

Flipping through these scrapbooks sure brought back a lot of fun memories and great times shared with friends!  Most of these photos were taken by my husband with a DSLR or by me with my point and shoot camera – I rarely purchase official race photos unless I really really like them!

Running Race Scrapbooks 8

I spent a good bit of my iced-in afternoon on Wednesday catching up on book #2. Currently, I’m up to Goofy’s Challenge of 2013. That’s pretty darn close if you ask me! ;0)

Do you display your race photos in any way? How do you document race accomplishments?

Disclaimer: I did not write this post as an advertisement for Shutterfly, nor did I receive any promotional goods or compensation for my opinion. I just like to share my way of documenting races with you! :0)

36 comments:

  1. Ahhh, Shutterfly! I have a couple albums just sitting in a cart right now. I used them to recap each year for our family because I found that once we went digital, I didn't have any printed photos anymore. But...like you, it takes FOREVER to do them, so I'm nowhere near finished. I haven't done that for my races only because they have been smaller races with only a few photos taken. I'll have to figure out what to do for my first half coming up! LOVE the look of your scrapbooks!

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    1. Thanks, Karen! Yes...those photobooks can be so time consuming but I love the finished product!

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  2. Love the Shutterfly book idea! I have done a few scrapbooks but I honestly don't have the time to keep up with that. I would actually probably have time to keep up a photo book...probably for the big races. -C

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    1. I know what you mean, Christine! It is a lot to keep up with!!

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  3. SO SO CUTE!! I love this idea - I have always wanted to get in to scrapbooking, but for some reason I can never find the time!

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    1. Agreed, Lauren - time is the reason I never can keep on top of my scrapbook. Oh well...

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  4. Your books are absolutely awesome! I wish I did something like it or had started when I began running. Now I have all these pictures (mostly posted on Facebook and that's how I "display" them - there and the blog) but none of them are really tangible.

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    1. Facebook is a good way to document pictures, too...but I know what you mean!

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  5. I'm impressed! I don't have the time or the skills to do this sort of thing. I've tried and I fail every time. My bibs are all in a binder or hanging on my wall, and all the other "stuff" that comes with is just in a memory box.

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    1. I like how you keep all of your bibs together..great idea!

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  6. I'm loving your Shutterfly books and scrapbooks! I used to scrapbook all the time, and now I find that there just isn't enough time. If only we could add another day or two to the week for all the things we'd love to do!

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  7. Love this :) I have made shutterfly photo books the past few years for my parents as Christmas gifts with all the grandkids pictures and highlights from the year.

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    1. That's wonderful! I've made a few as gifts over the years as well! :0)

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  8. Amazing. I need to hire you to do this for me. I usually only get one or two good pics at a race though.

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    1. I know what you mean, I hardly ever like official race photos!

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  9. Don't remind me I used to like to scrapbook! My apartment doesn't have the room, haha!

    I'm a fan of Shutterfly, but there haven't been any good deals lately, so I have a couple of them in my cart ready to go.

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    1. I do that too! I like to make books then wait for something good to come along! :D

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  10. Girl I LOVE to scrapbook! I don't do it nearly as often as I would like since having kids. But I DID get my first full marathon scrapbook done....only took me about a year lol! I also have done the shutterfly books for races too. It definitely all takes a lot of time but definitely worth it!

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  11. Karen, I love your scrapbooks so cute!!!! Its like a professional did them. So nice!
    I actually do Shutterfly books. I call them reflections of my journey. I am about to finish up my 3rd one with after my 1st Full Experience although my 1st Trail Half in March will be pretty Epic as well so I "may" wait and finish with that. They are brief with just a page per race (ok maybe more for Disney races) and I include my race times etc. I hope I continue running for quite awhile but I at least wanted this as a way to look back and be proud of what I accomplished in such a short period of time. Next time your in town Ill show you them :)

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    1. I love this!!! Would love to see them, too! Wonderful idea, Nicole!

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  12. OMG! I love, love, LOVE your photobooks! I, too, an obsessed with taking pictures and capturing pretty much every moment of my life (during races, especially!) and yet I'm the worst with actually printing them out, organizing them, etc. Why didn't I think of this?! The books are something you'll have forever and such an easy way to relive these awesome memories. Thanks for the great idea! :)

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer! Hope you enjoy your new project!! :p

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  13. Man I need to get organized I am the world's worst scrapbooker! LOVE your albums and the shutterfly album another great idea!.

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  14. This is SO great and so inspiring! I always save things and then don't know what to do with them. This is perfect!

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    1. Yeah that was my problem too...I had so many race bags filled with numbers and course maps! I decided to start scrapbooking them and it took off from there! :0)

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  15. I was almost in a panic today cus I thought I lost your blog! It wasn't showing up on my reading list (nor was it listed on mylists, hence why it has taken me so long so reply) so anyway, I am super impressed with your scrapbooking and your shutterfly album! I do the lazy gal way of scrapbooking! I digitally put several pictures on one 4x6 picture. Like a postcard. I often catch myself looking back at albums like that and going down memory lane! What great memories you have collected!

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    1. Oh that's a neat idea, too!! Collage type pictures...I like it! :D

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  16. Wow! Those scrapbooks are wonderful! I had a blanket made from some of my 2013 race pictures...I have my race pictures on my fb page..but other than that I don't do much with my pictures.

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    1. Oh my goodness I love that!! What a wonderful way to preserve race memories!

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  17. Love how you have displayed all your race memories, I am actually in the middle of writing a blog post on a similar topic, but I am not as organized as you!

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    1. I wish I were more organized...I would be completely caught up if so! :0)

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  18. I'm planning to start making "family year books" using shutterfly or similar and I really like the idea of creating race books too. Thanks for the idea!

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    1. Family year books sound awesome, too! Great idea...and you're welcome! :0)

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