I often run races with a runDisney AP drawstring backpack for that very reason. I barely feel it during the race and it makes carrying the post race stuff so much easier.
I was looking for an extra set of Dopey 2019 medals and when I saw the ebay price, I decided to just buy a shadowbox with extra medals. May as well get something useful out of that price. I opted to get the WDW Marathon Weekend framed medals with Mickey sketch so I had to leave my medals with Disney at Epcot in The Art of Disney.
I'll list a top 5 and brief reasons why.
1. 2017 Kessel Run Medal. This marked my dream medal if you will and also marked the finale of 18+ months worth of training including twice in the worst time of year professionally.
2. 2019 Walt Disney World Marathon. My first marathon, my first Mickey medal, and the realization of the dream I once thought impossible.
3. 2015 Star Wars Half Marathon. Another dream medal and patterned after the medal given to Luke and Han at the end of the original movie. This medal has a Chewbacca ribbon too!
4. 2017 Coast to Coast. While it's my second Coast to Coast medal, it gets the nod over 2012 because it has both U.S. Disney castles.
5. 2011
Disneyland Half Marathon. My first race medal ever so it has sentimental value, but I also truly love it.
Honorable mentions: BB-8 2017 Light Side 10K, 2015, 2016 Rebel Challenge medals, 2017 Dark Side Challenge medal, 2017 Avengers Half for firmly planting the marathon dream.
As much as I wish runDisney would make all the medals finishers medals, I'm glad they at least award any challenge medal to finishers only. Honestly, if I had known that just starting the race would have gotten me that darn medal during my very first half marathon, I fear I would have stopped right then and there, half a mile into the course, been handed that medal, and decided that I'm never going to be a runner. Since that moment where I wanted to quit less than half a mile into my very first half marathon, I have learned so much about myself and done things I never even believed were possible. And none of it would have happened if I had pulled to the side. And I can guarantee that when Star Wars races were announced, I would have told myself "too bad I'm not a runner because I can never do that. I even failed at attempting it." Instead that announcement spurred me to greater challenges and in time resulted in me attempting the one distance I never thought I would.