I paid the $20 to have a digital download of my Run For The Red Marathon finisher photo. It was the first and as of this writing ONLY time I ran a Boston Qualifier time. By the slimmest of margins, I did it but ya know what? I did it. And that felt worth commemorating. The twenty bucks seemed a bit steep for a single image but I decided what the heck. I was disappointed the photographer added some logos and cruddy layouts of same but what do you expect for a Jackson?
A few of my recent events tossed in race photos gratis — like the Big Five Marathon in Entabeni. They even included a race video showing some low-points… er, um, I mean highlights. That was one tough hill, people.
Sometimes folks shot stuff along the way and sent out links over Facebook, as Bertrand Chui did for one of the Firecracker Triple events held on July 3rd. One of them is actually one of the most flattering shots of me running I think that’s ever been posted here. It’s just the right angle to mask my akimbo stride and atypical form. Of course there are also some truly awful and unflattering shots in there as well. But you take the good, you take the bad; that’s the facts of life.
And the good people at A Better World Running always snap EVERYBODY multiple times on their courses. They did a typically great job at the Summer Sensation Half, especially given what they had to work with. I’m more of a gawkier Brad Garrett than say an ugly stepbrother of Bradley Cooper or Brad Pitt. But their photographers shot some great images of others and passably funny ones of me.
There are plenty of other examples of crazed photos along the road from me. I usually upload my selfies or shots I took on my camera/phone so I thought this might be a good alternate angle on reality post. More to come… as there’s always more races, more miles, and more adventures just over the horizon.