Monday, July 18, 2011

Yay! These Pictures Are Gre-...Oh.

At the beginning of May I participated in my first half marathon.  I think I blogged about it already so I won't rehash.

For some reason the company that was contracted to do race photography is based in Germany.  Normally this would be no big deal because I never, ever feel the need to order race pictures.  I have yet to take one where I don't look like I'm having some kind of episode.  In none of my pictures do I look like I'm having fun or even running, for that matter.  I swear I'm doing both.  One time I started running in an exaggerated fashion when I saw the photographer in the hopes that overemphasizing the movements they would show up on camera.  That experiment yielded a series pictures that make me look less like I'm running and more like I'm doing an impromptu roadside audition for Westside story.

So, no spending my money on race pictures for me.  Until now.  I decided that for my first half marathon I really needed to get a picture because it felt like kind of an accomplishment.  Luckily for me, there was a photographer at the finish line getting pictures of people holding their medals.  Perfect!  A race picture where I don't have to be running!  I ordered it and one other one that was only bad but nor outright horrible.

The race photographer's website was very, very slow.  After a million years of trying to look at pictures that would or would not expand from thumbnail I picked the two that I mentioned earlier.  Since the company is in Europe I got hit with an additional fee by my bank.  Thanks bank!  Then the waiting began.  It took about a month but they finally arrived this week.

Here's the one that I was so pleased to order:


I was pretty happy with this one until I looked at it closely.  See it?  Allow me to zoom for you:


I can't decide whether this makes this picture more awesome or less awesome.  On the one hand, look how tough I am!  On the other hand, that is a Buzz Lightyear band-aid.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Leaving My Mark

This morning Huppy and I ran a 10K that started and ended at Gillette Stadium.  For my non-local friends, this is the place where the professional football team the New England Patriots plays.  Actually, I guess I should say this is the place where the major league soccer team the New England Revolution plays because that's who uses the place in July.  Anyway, it was very warm.  VERY warm.  I did not finish in a time faster than my first 10K in February which was disappointing.  But that's OK because it was really, really warm.  Did I mention the heat yet?  It was hot out.

Anyway, after finishing up we decided we needed food and drink.  Gillette has a big shopping complex attached to it and we decided to stay there since we were disgustingly sweaty but there we were among thousands of disgustingly sweaty people milling around.  

So, we squelched into the Olive Garden.  (Side note:  I actually ate some salad).  While we were eating, I joked about how I hoped we didn't leave sweaty butt prints on the booth when we left because that would be a super gross thing to do.  The booth seats were vinyl, though, so when we left after our meal no visible butt sweat was seen.  

Unfortunately, the seat backs at this Olive Garden are cloth.  Yup, when we got up there were big wet marks from our backs.  For the record, the mark I left was bigger which I think makes me the grosser of the two of us.  

So, I'd like to apologize to the Olive Garden at Patriot Place and whoever was seated at that booth after us.  I am usually much, much better at keeping my bodily fluid expulsion restricted to the appropriate times and places.