This past week I celebrated 9 year wedding anniversary and when I started thinking about what to get my husband I didn’t have to look far. He started running half marathons last year and he loves the medals that he gets for finishing. The problem is, he just throws them all in a drawer. So for his anniversary gift I made him this super easy DIY marathon medal display. He was so surprised when I gave it to him and he absolutely loved it. If you would like to make one of your own keep reading for the full tutorial.

Before I get into the tutorial, here are the materials and tools that are needed to complete this project. This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thanks for the support!

Materials

1 x 10 board

Drill Bits

Cup hooks

Stickers (or Vinyl Cutting Machine)

chalk board sticker

Painters tape

Hangman Picture Hanging System

Tape Measure

Eye Protection

Tools

Miter Saw

Drill

You all know that I love IKEA right? Well, I’m always sharing on Instagram that you should check the as-is section for wood boards and it’s for projects exactly like this! I bought a random board at IKEA a few months back for $2.00 (that’s not a typo, seriously…. TWO DOLLARS). I have no clue what it went to but I knew that I could make something out of it someday. The dimensions of this full board are roughly 9-7/8″ x 47-1/4 ” but if you don’t have access to this specific board you could just as easily use a 1×10 board. What I liked about this board was that I didn’t need to do anything to finish it. No stain and no poly and I’m doing a happy dance over here. I love building but the finishing can be so tedious.

Step 1

I started by cutting the board in half. I cut it right down the center so that when Adam gets to a point where he is running full marathons I can use the other half to make him a second display. Plus, it made a great length for 15 hooks.

Step 2

After you have the board cut to length, use a piece of painters tape to mark a reference line for your drill holes. I aligned it about 1″ from the bottom of the board.

If you look closely you can see where I marked with pencil small lines where I wanted the hooks. I staggered them at the top and bottom of the tape and spaced them just under 3″ apart to allow enough space for each of the medals to hang. You may also see that I already have the stencil letters on in the image below. I applied those late the night before due to the time crunch that I was on. You can read about my process for the numbers in step 5.

Step 3

Align the hooks that you will use with a drill bit that is slightly smaller and put some painters tape on the bit to ensure that you drill deep enough for the screw on the hook. Be careful not to get hooks that have screws that are longer than the thickness of your board. If that happens you will screw through the board and scratch up your wall.

Drill holes where each of the hooks will go.

Step 4

Remove the tape before screwing in the hooks.

Step 5

I wanted something simplistic for the design so I went with the number 13.1 since that is the distance in miles for a half marathon. Since it’s just numbers you could get number stickers from your local craft store. Or, if you would like a very specific font you could use a Vinyl Cutting Machine like I did.

I also cut the letters PR: using the silhouette Cameo for the top right corner. I was able to find some chalk board stickers at Michaels to put next to it so that I can write in Adam’s personal record (PR) using a chalk pen.

Here is what the final product looks like.

To hang it I finally broke down and bought some hangman product hangers. I’m so glad that I did because it made it so much easier and it’s super stable. It will be a while before the weight is evenly distributed on the left and right so having a stable hanger was key.