Completing the London Marathon is one of my greatest achievements. I may not have finished in the time that I wanted, but I got through the hottest London Marathon on record. Battling my mind, and my body, I somehow made it to the finishing line.

To celebrate my achievement, I decided to get some mementos – an A3 framed display, a memory bear and a keyring. Chris also purchased a t-shirt for me at the expo.

A3 Display

To remind me of my triumph, Chris purchased a bundle containing all of my race images from the day. Using my favourite image, which I had printed myself, I ordered an A3 frame and made my own display. I used a cut out of the foil blanket to form the background, as shown below, and then added my medal, race number and 6×4 photo print.

This was a lot cheaper than purchasing a pre-made display. The frame was £7.50 from eBay and the print was around £0.30 from a self-printing kiosk in Morrison’s. The only “major” cost was to purchase the images from the day. Chris had pre-purchased these online after the expo for £49.99. The package included all images that featured myself, as well as a few bonus pictures of the elite races.

Memory Bear

Despite requesting a small finisher’s t-shirt from the London Marathon, I ended up with a large as all the smaller sizes had been taken. Consequently my t-shirt had just been left in a drawer since May. I did consider adding it to my framed medal, but decided against it as I couldn’t get it to look right.

Instead, I opted to have my t-shirt turned into a memory bear. I found a woman local to me who advertised this service on Facebook. After sending pictures of my t-shirt and explaining what I was looking for, she asked me to drop my t-shirt off so she could work her magic.

Parting with my t-shirt was stressful! Even though I hadn’t looked at it since May, the thought of being without it still bothered me. Then came the thoughts of “what if she ruins it?!” but it was a chance that I had already taken.

Two days later and she messaged me to say that my t-shirt, or should I say bear, was ready to collect. I was so excited! She had sent me a few pictures of the finished product and I already loved it. Chris took me to pick it up and I was over-the-moon with how it had turned out. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was definitely better than I had imagined, and the pictures hadn’t done it justice at all.

I think I’m going to get all of the Abbott World Marathon Major t-shirts that I earn turned into memory bears to form a collection.

Keyring

I can’t take credit for this as someone posted the idea in a Facebook running group. I saw it and just had to do the same! It turns out that the timing chip makes a great keyring, and doesn’t even need any holes punching. It’s a great way to remember the day, and to also recycle the timing chip. I love mine, whenever I’m having a tough day I just look at my keys and remind myself that I got through the London Marathon, so I can get through the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Chris accidentally shut my keyring in a door, so it’s slightly bent out of shape!

T-shirt:

There were a few different designs to choose from, however I really liked this one. The Union Jack is made up of different landmarks and street names which are on the marathon route. As someone who doesn’t know the London area too well, this was a great way to see where I had actually ran! I think I wore this t-shirt 3 Friday’s in a row for the office “dress down” day. I’m glad that I got a t-shirt at the expo as my official finisher’s t-shirt was much too large to wear.

Do you have race mementos that you are really fond of, or any that you have made yourself? Please share them in the comments section below!