Boston Marathon jacket etiquette

I wouldn't buy it. I imagine it would be a lot like buying a letterman jacket in May of your senior year--waste of money / closet space taker uper.

It's ONLY a jacket. It's ONLY a marathon. Nothing more. Noting less.

buy it and keep it in your closet. Wear it when you're old so you can tell all the young whippersnappers about the time you ran the Boston marathon

I buy the jacket every year but refuse to wear any of them until I'm old, at which point they'll be more about nostalgia than anything else.

Personally, I think it looks tacky to wear the jacket on the race weekend or soon afterward. It's like a 16-year-old wearing the concert tee shirt at school the next day - a move that just screams "hey look what I did, please ask me about it so that I get some attention and can talk about myself". It's the same thing as a dorky bumper sticker.

I have respect for anyone who completes months of training and runs a marathon. But the excessive self-congratulation that happens every year in Boston, personified by the ubiquitous jackets, is pretty ridiculous. The worst part, IMO, is at the airport the day after with every fifth person wearing the jacket and their medal while toting a backpack that has the race poster in it. It's fine to have a momento or two, but come on, we're in overkill territory here.

So to answer your question, buy the jacket if you want one. But please keep that thing in your closest until next year or later when you want to reflect back on your memories of the event.

I've run 4, bought jackets for each and am glad I did. If you want one, buy it and wear it when you want, you don't need the approval of anyone here.

Only problem is someday you'll have a moment like I did when you look at the jacket and say "how many years has it been?" (2003 was my first)

He's not seeking approval. He asked for opinions. If the question is "when is it ok to wear the jacket?", then the only correct answer is "whenever you want to." If he's asking "when does it look dumb?", then the answer is "in Boston on race weekend."

I wear mine at every race that I attend, but don't run. It lets everyone know that if I was running, I'd beat them.

Buy it.

Figure out for yourself when you're comfortable wearing it. I personally would never wear it before the race. It's been fun to wear when I travel to other races; it's a conversation starter more than anything.

Be glad you're getting one that's half way decent looking and not some of the obnoxious colored ones from recent years.

Wear it on the plane to Boston like every one else.

The jacket is no longer a "hallowed icon." Hobby joggers in your neighborhood are wearing it right now. Back in the day it actually meant something [like you had met some fairly stiff qualifying standards]. Now, any charity runner who can shell out the $250 [?] entry fee and shell out another 100$ [?] for the jacket. Wear it wherever you want. Nobody will care.

I ran it in 2011 for the first time; bought the jacket and wore it all weekend (including Saturday and Sunday before the race) and ran a PR, so it's not like it was bad luck. Tons of other people were wearing theirs also.

Since then I haven't worn it much because to me it had sentimental value and I don't want to ruin it, although I did wear it on my 22 miler yesterday. ☺

Ran my first one in 1979 when it was $5 to enter and $5 extra if you wanted a shirt. Cotton thing that ended up in a quilt. Unless this is your only one, you are unlikely to wear it much and will sit in the closet.

The only person that qualifying for the race matters to is you, and you already know you did it. I don't get how somebody could PAY for a commemorative jacket in 2017. Are you really young?

Can you really see yourself wearing this around next December? "Hey people at church and the grocery store, check me out and check out what I did!"

If you really want it, if it means something to you, go ahead, otherwise I would skip it.

I've done Boston twice and while, yeah, "it's just a jacket," getting it is part of the tradition and fun of the experience. It's a nice keepsake, too, and don't let the perception and judgement of the neckbeards here say otherwise. Personally. the only rule I had was I wouldn't wear it until AFTER the race. You haven't run it yet, so why would you wear the jacket?

I bought one last year on the Adidas website, never ran the race. Just thought it looked cool. It's my rain jacket on long runs.

Random thoughts:

1. The color this year is pretty nice. Other years are putrid, so get it while you can.

2. Rossi spent well over $1000 on Boston gear. Don't be like him.

3. I have seen elites who broke their BQ by over 45 minutes warming up for other marathons in their Boston jackets. Be like them.

4. This is my first Boston. I'll probably get one.

5. I used to hoard jackets/shirts like gold. If you run enough races they lose their sentimental value. Run lots of races, and run Boston again if you can.

The same etiquette that applies to wearing NXN jackets. I always wear mine to HS meets to let kids know how cool I am.

Do what feels best for you. I have not run Boston yet, but If/when I do, I would most likely get the jacket. They are nice jackets, and I feel like I would just wear it like I do other jackets. So that would be winter running, and probably a good 7-8 months after the race.

As others said, I would feel weird wearing it before the race, or right after the race when everyone else is wearing it. Other than that, I don't think you can go wrong.

My first Boston, I didn't get the jacket because of similar fears of being considered a "noob" on LetsRun. That was 2013, so I ended up regretting not getting it.

I got the jacket when I went back in 2015. I'm glad I did because I ran a PR there and got engaged at dinner that night wearing the jacket. Don't worry, I wasn't still wearing my finisher's medal.

I haven't worn the jacket much since then mostly just because the 3 stripes are banned at my place of work. For the same reason, I don't plan on getting one this year.

The only "rule" I have about wearing the jacket is to not wear it before the race. It's bad luck. I already had this superstition, but it was reinforced when my sister wore hers and is now injured and not able to race what would have been her first Boston.