In praise of the sports photographer

January 31, 2008

Having recently decided to re-post the pictures from last years Thrill in the Hills race, I recalled some things that I had forgot:
Wow, I took a lot of pictures. Over 1000 of them, actually.

  • It takes a long time to go through them all. A real long time.
  • It takes almost as long to upload them to a server. We’re talking hours.
  • There were some good shots in the set.

As I started uploading them, I decided to clean house a bit, so the set now contains only about 650 shots. Maybe that will make it easier to find your picture in them. I would have cleaned out a couple hundred more, but I had already uploaded half of them and didn’t feel like going through it again. For most the finish line pictures, I took 2-3 shots are people came across. The cleaning consisted of getting rid of the worst of the shots. You’ll noticed the cleaner sets in Finish Line III and Finish Line IV and Starting Line.

This is a shot I didn’t catch in my favorites last year, but saw it this time around and thought it was great.
Guy leaping across the finish line

And here’s one of my favorites of the whole race.
Guy running behind a tree

(Unfortunately, I don’t know who either of these guys are. If this is you, let me know.)
All the pictures are here. Hope you enjoy.

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It was a winter wonderland, for a couple hours

January 28, 2008

The snow came and went.
Up the street:
Snowing 1-16-08

The front yard:
Snowing 1-16-08

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Weekend Roundup and pictures

January 28, 2008

Saturday, the Runners Fit group heading back out to the Elachee Nature Center for our run before going to Sweet Escapes for their Runners Special breakfast.
Overall, the run was good…we started with a really big (in my opinion) hill that took my breath away along the West Lake Trail. I didn’t really get it back for about 2 miles, right before getting to the suspension bridge. I wanted to do the back half this time, but wasn’t sure what direction the rest of the group took, so I actually didn’t cross over, and headed up the Dunlap trail (clockwise). When it split off back to just the West Lake, I headed up that way. Here, I ran into Gordon, who split off from the main group to meet up with them later. He had never been here before, but wasn’t too lost.

From there, I hit the Mathis Trail connector and took this to the East Lake trail, which took me back to the parking lot. Along here, I ran into M**** (protecting the innocent and all), who was very lost and very unhappy about it! After getting him set in the right direction, I followed and we finished up.

Between M**** being lost and Gordon being on his own for a while, I was thinking next time we need to make sure we have contingency plans when people get separated. (Being an expert map reader, I never get lost…just mis-orientated on occasion. :) Something for us to think about. I usually carry my phone, and have thought about carrying a whistle to signal for assistance.

Sunday, some of us met at Ft. Yargo to run the trails there. Everyone did good by not getting lost…I had a bad first 4 miles, then loosened up…but by then my pace was horrible, and I finished the 10 miles in 2:15. I thought I was ahead of the main group because I didn’t see footprints in the mud. (There was some muddy, slipper sections, which is always fun.) However, they were all ahead of me, and I get the feeling that they were waiting awhile. Sorry guys.

While there, some of us were talking about signing up for the Disney Marathon next year. Maybe even doing the Goofy Challenge. So, time to start thinking about the next set of races to do…

Because the Thrill in the Hills Half Marathon is coming up, I’ve started posting my pictures of the race from last year. (Last year, I photographed the race and had a blast. This year, I haven’t decided.)
Usual rules apply: Free free to take for your own use. If you want a higher resolution version of a picture, contact me.
The photos are here.

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I was a disbeliever

January 23, 2008

Two things have happened in the last couple weeks that have really made me say “whoah”.

First, back in December when I was given a gift certificate for a new bowling ball, everyone said “get a fingertip ball. Your average will go up overnight”.

Yeah, right, I said…how much difference can a ball make my ball, a T-Road Solid by Storm. Of course, I had it drilled to fit my hand and made it a fingertip. With it, I also did a one hour lesson to show me how to throw it. The lesson started with the very basics, from how to put my fingers in it to basic arm swing. I spent a good portion of the time standing at the throw line and swinging my arm and throwing gutter balls. I also learned how to aim, which I had always been doing incorrectly, as I came to find out. (Hint: If you’re looking at the pins, your looking at the wrong place.)

Now, before this, my weekly average as been 102, give or take a point every week. my previous high game ever was 144, which I’d never gotten close to matching again. (a 115 was a good high game.) Well, after the lesson, I went a couple times…without trying all to hard, my games were creeping up. I threw a 108, then a 130 something, even got up to a 166. Then, went a week later, and threw a 177. League has finally started back up, and last night I threw a 124, 133 and 149. The week before I threw a little lower, but in the same neighborhood. Wow, that’s pretty dang cool.

Okay, the second instance is all one we’ve heard. Stretch. I’ve always been bad at stretching before and after running…just laziness to be honest. And I didn’t think it made a big difference. Well, a couple weeks ago, my chiropractor (who’s ran 5 marathons) suggested I start doing yoga daily.

So I went through a couple yoga tapes we had laying around and got some good moves. I then started spending 10-20 minutes every night stretching while we watched TV. On that weekends run, I was almost pain free on a 6 miler. I just started tightening up in the last 1/2 mile..cool, but was it really the stretching? I spent the next week not stretching at all outside of what I’ve always done…Let me tell you, the Saturday morning run was horrible in comparison. I was tight and hurting, which doesn’t make for a good time. So I decided I’m now a stretching believer. I’m back to doing some every night this week. Today’s lunchtime run went good…

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Group run in the wood

January 18, 2008

This morning the Runners Fit group headed off to Elachee/Chicopee Woods for a group run in the woods. 13 of us braved the cold (31 degrees) for this grand adventure.

After the caravan over there, I headed in one direction with my camera while everyone else ran the other way. (I know there is a joke in there somewhere!) The plan was for me to meet them at the suspension bridge for pictures, and I wanted to go the slightly shorter route to make sure I beat them. I barely did, by about 3 minutes.
GroupRun_20080105_0083
Having barely time to set up, I started snapping away. Once everyone made it over, we paused for a group picture. Given that this meant people had to stop for about 5 minutes while everyone gathered, it went okay. After this, everyone quickly took off for the back 3 miles. I hung back with Mark to take the short route back.

GroupRun_20080105_0094About halfway back, I split up with Mark to wait for everyone on a straight downhill section I
noticed on the way up. Seemed like the perfect spot to pick up some more pictures. After going up and down it a couple times to stay warm get some exercise, I heard the leaders coming back and barely got turned around in time to meet them. Another 5 minutes of great shots later and everyone was done.

I packed up and headed back, last in line as usual.

I managed just under 4 miles, and about 175 shots. Highlights can be seen here.

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Newfound Fame, almost

January 18, 2008

After my last post about running at the end of the year, I passed it on to Ryan while trying to find some email addresses. He read it, and was impressed and suggested I do a article for his monthly newsletter.

So, for the second time in my life, someone has read something of mine and wanted to do something with it. That’s pretty dang exciting. The first time, it was a technical article for a web magazine having to do with GPS’s and mapping. Cool stuff to me, but definitely a limited audience. This time, it’s a bit more accessible to everyone, since there’s no talk about computers or anything. (Well, maybe I’ll mention sites or something.)

The feedback so far has been good, and I think I’ll have a good time doing it.

Now, off to go edit pictures from this mornings run…

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Posted by bigrahn