On Friday evening I shot at the Ultra Around the Lake races in Wakefield, MA. After getting stuck in terrible traffic on 495 (big surprise on a Friday afternoon) I arrived just in time to try to take photos in a deluge. It was dark and wet and I was flustered from driving. But I managed to eke out a few good shots anyway. And eventually the rain let up enough for a spectacular double rainbow to form. True, it was in the wrong direction and I had to take a lot of shots of runner butts, but I figure most would understand and be forgiving and appreciative anyway. I continued to shoot right through the sunset, until it was simply too dark to get anything but lots and lots of blurry grain. Congratulations to everyone who endured the elements and ran these races.
On Saturday morning I took photos at the 2nd Annual Bear Brook Trail Marathon. Based on the online course map and description, I picked a spot around mile 3 or 4 where the runners would be coming east along a steep, wooded bluff above Bear Brook where I could get the morning light on their faces. Unfortunately, I didn't know that the course was being run in reverse this year, so I very literally ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After some cursing and a bit of fiddling with my phone's Facebook app, I walked a few miles back along the route to somewhere near mile 21 to await the first runners. Eventually I decided these photos were likely too dark and I just gave up and headed to the finish to try and salvage some shots of people coming down the final stretch. I have to say I was astounded at how good so many of the runners looked after having spent hours out on this tough course. Made me want to run it myself!
You should run it yourself, it's a fun course. The park is essentially my backyard and I train there frequently.
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