Going for the Gold

By Paul Baltutis

I found my topic for my article this month by doing a little "people watching" during Fiesta week. While I was walking around during the King William Fair and checking out the robust activity on the streets, I couldn't help but notice the popularity of colorful, pin-on, chest medals worn by many a Fiesta reveler. There were quite a range of people who were adorned with these medals; there were individuals with as few as one medal, some who wore a spattering of several medals, and some whose entire chest was covered by medals.

These medals were clearly a part of their "costumes" along with sashes, tiaras, crowns, or just about any other kind of "get-up" under the sun. It is pretty clear that the medals are worn simply for fun and are purely decorative; they're obviously not earned by having achieved any real accomplishment, but I still couldn't help but be impressed with their effect.

Such impressions all go back to the history of awards. The recognition of heroism is a very old tradition. The Greeks awarded crowns, and the ancient Romans awarded torques and decorative disks. The Romans also recognized the most meritorious people in their fields with a wreath made from branches of laurel. The Romans awarded wreaths not only to brave soldiers, but also to those who won a race or made a great speech. Somewhere during the Middle Ages, military commanders started presenting medals, attached to colorful ribbons, to deserving individuals.

The symbol that a medal represents, as we all learned from the Wizard of Oz, clearly distinguishes a person and validates acts of courage. Did you not notice the pride in the Cowardly Lion's face when the Wizard of Oz gave him a medal for courage? It is no wonder that medals are a festive part of any Fiesta costume, for they make people feel good about themselves.

So what does any of this talk of medals have to do with running? Recently I have been doing some research about marathon runners during the turn of the century, circa 1896-1908. I was struck by how many runners were photographed with medals on their chests. They just didn't hand out neck medallions during that era; each and every runner I saw in the photographs wore his or her medals.

As seen during Fiesta, some runners had one medal, some had a few medals, and some, like Hamilton Gray, as pictured, had a chest full of them. Wearing them, I observed, seemed to be a source of pride. It also showed everyone where the athletes were in the pecking order of things. The more medals a runner had, the bigger his reputation.

Athletic pin-on medals are quite rare these days, for they have been "phased out" in favor of medals given with ribbons to be worn around the neck. Not that there is anything wrong with neck medals, but they are harder to show off. As we all know, most neck medals get stored away only to collect dust. Add to that the fact that the trend for medals at marathons now seems to be "bigger is better." Has anyone every seen the Little Rock Marathon medal? It is so huge it would probably bruise your sternum if you actually wore it! A smaller medal pinned to your shirt -- now that is something you can build on.

I think we need to change two things when it comes to awarding race medals for participation and performance; First, let's "down size" the medals, and second, let's pin them on. I hope a San Antonio-area race director will adopt this idea and offer a race with pin-on award.
If this idea becomes popular again and races start awarding pin-on medals, what better place would there be to show off your awards than on your outfit during Fiesta Week? Now, go out and start training because we all have a long way to catch-up with Hamilton Gray.
 
Paul Baltutis is the manager of Soler's Sports in Alamo Heights. He is a certified Marathon Coach for Team in Training. He can be reached at sage_run03@yahoo.com or call Soler's Sports (210) 930-3148.