Medals for Mettle

I was browsing a local endurance training website (BeginnerTriathlete.com) regarding what to do with the finisher's medals received at some of the larger races. Some talked of hanging them on the garage wall with their race number, as a reminder, while others talked of hanging them on their Christmas Trees as decorations. One comment mentioned a company called Medals 4 Mettle, which I looked into, never hearing about it.

Talk about pretty cool thing to do...

From their website:
Medals4Mettle (M4M) is a non-profit organization founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2005. Its mission is to celebrate and reward the individual and collective courage of all human beings by facilitating the gifting of marathon finisher’s medals from marathoners to people who have demonstrated similar mettle, or courage. The recipients can be any age and might have exhibited such mettle by dealing with disease, handicaps or any similar challenge. Marathon runners around the world, and others who have won medals, give their medals to Medals4Mettle. Then our nationwide network of physicians and others award these medals to those who might not be able to run a marathon, but are in their own marathon to continue to live their life. As marathoners run through the streets, large crowds cheer the runners for their effort. Medals4Mettle lets these runners, healthy enough to compete in such an event, to return the cheers to those who have supported them.

So, basically, you fill out a form with a brief history of your medal (where it came from, the race type, and a little about how you got it), then some info on who you think should receive it (where, why) and they do the rest. They attach their own ribbon to it, and present it, just like they would had they crossed the finish line at a race... talk about pretty cool!

Amazing what you can find when simply browsing a training website...