Run, Race, Re-purpose.

The chaos of the last couple of months has finally died down and in it's wake we've been left with a pretty messy house.  Today was the first time in what seemed like months where I actually had the time and the energy to get around to doing some serious cleaning.
I never cease to be amazed at how much mess two people can make and how much stuff we amass, especially in the clothes department.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a clothes horse.  I love clothes.  Given my penchant for nice duds, I've become fairly ruthless as to what stays in my closet and what goes so I never really find that there are things in my closet that I don't wear. 
My workout clothes are a bit of a different story.  I tend to hang on to this stuff a lot longer than I probably should.  Mainly because I think that I don't wear it as much as I do, say, a pair of jeans.  But given that I tend to work out an average of 5 days a week, I'm re-thinking that statement.  I did a workout clothes re-evaluation last year after I lost a lot of weight.  I finally took the time to weed through it all and get rid of stuff that didn't fit me or that was just plain gross.  Old things got chucked and newer things that were still in good condition either got sold on e-bay or brought to a consignment store.  One thing I hung on to for some strange reason were my race shirts, which by the end of last year, had grown to a rather impressive pile. 
Going through them this morning, I thought "Why the hell did I keep half of these?"  There are several I've never worn because they are either ugly, ill fitting or both.  Instead of chucking them into the Goodwill bag, I figured they might come in handy as dust rags or cleaning cloths.  So, out came the scissors and I cut the shirts up.  I now have a nice little pile of rags that I can use for cleaning instead of wasting a pile of paper towels.  A win / win situation if you ask me.
Of course as I was dusting the furniture with my newly minted cleaning cloths, I started thinking about the whole idea of race t-shirts.  The Subaru Triathlon series used to post their t-shirt designs on their site ahead of time so you could see what sort of souvenir you'd be getting if you did the race.  Not a bad idea.  I wished more races did that.   What would be even better was if race organizers made the race t-shirt optional.  I get that some folks like to feel like they're getting something for their entry fee.  For the most part, I could care less and I'm sure there are others out there like myself who probably toss the race shirt into their closet and leave it there until it's time for another round of spring cleaning when said t-shirt finds its way into either the garbage or a bag headed to Goodwill. Sure, there are some race t-shirts that I will keep until they fall apart (my first Boston shirt & my two Ironman finishers shirts) but the rest of them I could do without.  I'd be a happy camper if race organizers made the t-shirt an optional selection and gave racers who opted out of getting a t-shirt a discount on the entry fee.  THAT would be excellent.  It would certainly free up some space in my closet and would definitely help keep some dollars in my wallet. 

Given the option would you chose the t-shirt or a discount on an entry fee?

Do you keep / wear your race t-shirts?  If so, what's your favourite one?