Let me tell you about the biggest quilt I’ve ever seen in person.
I only came across it last week, when I went to the Plant City YMCA to talk to Buddy Mines and his wife, Dreama. Before the interview, Buddy told me he and Dreama were going to bring a quilt — something I thought was going to be of an average size, perhaps covered with patches from some of his marathons or other mementos.
I don’t know if the pictures that I took did this thing justice: it’s huge.
Rather than run-of-the-mill quilting squares, Dreama (and, in one instance, Buddy) put together a double-sided quilt made from every T-shirt Buddy had ever received at a marathon, plus 12 others from 5Ks and 10Ks — just to fill the extra space. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 27 years’ worth of T-shirts — without counting all of the patches Buddy received, which line the bottom hem of the quilt.
To really get a perspective for how much historical ground this thing covers, flip it over: it’s completely covered on both sides. It’s so big that Buddy and the YMCA staff had to stack two tables on top of each other to keep it from touching the ground, but that just barely worked.
Of all the shirts on the quilt and the stories associated with them, Buddy may be most proud of the shirt he received at the 1981 Marine Corps Marathon. That was when he posted his fastest time ever, completing the event in 3:19:29.
“We saved all of my marathon shirts, and someone said, “Dreama, you should go ahead and make him a quilt with all those T-shirts,’” Buddy says. “She said she’d do it. I helped with one T-shirt, but then she said, ‘It’s OK — I’ll do the rest of them.’”
Although the Mines aren’t sure when exactly they started working on the quilt (Buddy estimated 1990 or 1991 as the start date), it had been a work in progress as Buddy continued running marathons. He stopped running them in 2005, after a marathon in Arkansas, and the quilt was finished shortly thereafter.
Although it appears to just be a testament to Buddy’s years of hard work, he’s quick to credit his wife for helping make every marathon a reality. Dreama, who Buddy calls his “trainer,” often worked on training programs to get her husband ready for these events and was always around to support him.
“She’s been really, really faithful,” Buddy says.
So, they have this giant quilt. It’s full of good memories and covers Buddy’s accomplishments well, but there’s not much practical use for it. It’s bigger than most beds and far too hot to use in Florida weather.
“You’d have to go to Alaska,” Buddy jokes.