Wear Your Number
Posted on 21 September 2009, at 8:30 am, by Larry Greenberg
I’m currently training for what will be my 12th marathon.  This time I’ll be tackling the 26.2 mile distance down at the Outer Banks Marathon in North Carolina.
In addition to running 11 other full marathons I’ve run quite a few other races in my running career. Â One of the items that goes with every race is a runner’s bib. Â The paper bib, which has the runner’s number on the front, is fastened to your shirt via safety pins and serves to identify you amongst the swarms of other runners.
I save my bib from every race and add it to my growing collection.
The Outer Banks Marathon is offering something different this year and it might just bring an end to my bib collection.
Wear Your Number is a clothing company which has partnered with the marathon to produce shirts with each entrants bib number printed on them. Â The shirts are made from technical wicking material and are available in a variety of styles.
The bib is actually dyed into the shirt so it won’t fade, peel or crack.
You can choose from short sleeve, long sleeve, sleeveless, singlet, and ladies singlet.
Once of the nice features about the shirts is that they also allow you to choose your own custom message which they also print on the shirt. Â This can be your name or a motivational phrase, anything that helps you through the pain sometimes associated with running 26.2 miles.
At many races, the company sets up a booth at the EXPO/Packet Pick Up held the day before the race and prints the shirts on site.
Now the shirts aren’t free, and buying them is completely optional. Â They range in price from $28.95 to $30.00 whereas there’s no charge for the paper bibs issued by the race organizers. Â But in exchange you get a nice shirt that can be worn again, you don’t have to worry about pins and bibs ripping, nor do you have to wonder whether or not the bib is fastened to your shirt straight, either.
The company has a video that details the whole process.
I’ll be testing out the Wear Your Number shirt at my upcoming race, and I’ll be sure to report back with a full review.
You can learn more about Wear Your Number, and check to see if they’ll be partnered with your upcoming race here.
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September 21st, 2009 at 4:35 pm
That’s a really cool idea. I also never knew about all the tracking stuff that these races offer — based on the chips they give I think some let you follow your favorite runner.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:41 pm
The chips, which are worn on your shoe serve two purposes.
1. They allow the timing company to start your official time for the race when you actually cross the starting line. For a race like the NYC Marathon, which has 35,000+ entrants, it took me more than five minutes to reach the starting line from where I was lined up. The starting line has a electronic mat placed across it that interacts with the chip. It knows the runner’s number and starts his/her time based on when he/she actually crosses the mat.
2. As you mentioned the chip is also used to help track runners. There are several timing mats placed throughout the course, at different splits, 5K, 10K etc. When the runner crosses one of those mats their time is transmitted. Often times these results are sent to friend and family via SMS, if the race offers it, or posted on line.