Saturday, October 25, 2014

Earn it to buy it: the BQ singlet

Apparently there is a company in New England that is making waves in the running world. Amongst Tracksmith's retro-style offerings is a racing singlet that you are only allowed to buy if you are running the Boston Marathon this spring.  Sorry charity runners, but as the prominently displayed letters "BQ" suggest, this one is only for the qualifiers.



I absolutely love the retro look to it, and since I only own one other singlet, this seems right up my alley.  Two things are stopping me, though.  First of all, it costs $70, and I am loath to pay that much for just a shirt, regardless of how cool it looks or its association with Boston. Second, I would feel eternally douchey for wearing such a shirt.  Bragging rights are one thing, and I won't mind wearing official Boston Marathon gear after I've run the race, but I feel like this shirt takes the bragging to a new level.  

I also don't like that they limit it to qualifiers who are actually running this spring.  This leaves out over a thousand runners who technically qualified for the 2015 race, but weren't able to register due to the 1:02 cutoff this year.

So what do you think?  If you're a qualifier, would you buy it?  And if you're not, does it offend you at all?

5 comments:

  1. Buy the singlet. It is not obnoxiously "bragadoscious" like many other race gear. I saw a woman at a race the other day with an Ironman(dont remember which one) Jacket. It not only read Ironman championships all over it, it also had the distance boldly across the back(2.4mii swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run). I have done IM as well, and I do not have the stupid sticker or an obnoxious jacket. But the singlet is cool because it is subtle.

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  2. Disagree. "Eternally Douchey." Also, you will have no interest in wearing the Boston Qualifier shirt, once you get the Boston Participant shirt. I made a douchey purchase at Boston. I bought my sons the "My dad's faster than your dad" Boston shirts. Using my kids for my shameless self-promotion? Don't care. I love it when they wear them.
    ...I should have got that Boston hat.
    Tom K.

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  3. Tom K. You have made a valid point.

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  4. It will be tough not to go broke at the expo. "Sorry kids, mom and I saved a bunch of money for you to go to college, but there was all of this cool Boston-related stuff at the expo, and well,... Hey, check out dad's new jacket!" I live in FL. I get to wear a jacket maybe 10 times a year. I had to get that stupid obnoxious neon orange jacket. I HAD TO. I don't think they could design that jacket in such a way that the wearer could look more arrogant and douchey. My wife has to talk me into wearing it. Arrrrgh!
    -Tom K.

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  5. Joe, you do have a point that it is subtle. And Tom, I agree it will be tough not to go broke at the expo. All the more reason not to drop $70 on a singlet now.

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