So because i love to run i put in a lot of time on the roads and trails running.  This means that when i enter an event i am generally well prepared and fit enough to finish most of them without feeling like i am going to die en route.  So i would expect that because i feel good while running i would look relatively okay too.

That is until i open my emails with the photo’s that the official event photographers take on the route.  Oh my goodness!  Only once i have checked the race number on the front of the T-shirt of the sweating, red faced, exhausted looking individual in the photo do i realize it is me.

So i have a few rules i try to follow when i see the photographers up ahead.

  •  The arms in the air victory salute is a no no unless you are wearing a running shirt with sleeves long enough to hide bingo wings.
  • Either smile or don’t, a half way smile just looks like the grimace of pain it probably is.
  • Knee high compression socks do not look good bunched around your ankles, clearly i need tighter socks or bigger calf muscles.
  • Tight black short running pants can be very unforgiving.

The trick is to run next to someone who looks sweatier, more red faced and exhaused than you, that way if you are both in the photo you will clearly look like the victor.  If the worst comes to the worst you can always claim a case of “mixed up race numbers” and say you have never seen that person before in your life.

Happy running all and remember to smile for the cameras.

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