Rochester Half Marathon Photos (and Upcoming First 25K!)

So I spotted a nice man taking photos right around mile 13 of the Rochester Half Marathon about 10 days ago. I talked to him briefly afterwards, and found out his name was Thom. Here are 5 of his photos.

I mentioned Ruth passing me around mile 3 in my race report, and she went on to take 2nd OVERALL in 1:19!!

Ruth kicking butt!

Oh, also in that photo you can see a little hill in the background - that's just after we crossed the bridge that I mentioned in my race report. We ran up to the bridge (where I was dying), across the river, down the hill in the background of those photos above, back up the hill where Ruth is, and then around 2 sharp corners to the finish.

I was passed by Joe when I stopped to walk, and shortly after that I mentioned being passed by a "super buff tan dude" who I found out was from Arizona. Here's a photo of Joe, and that's super buff dude in the background!

Joe with buff, tan, Arizonian behind him. His pecs (even when out of focus) cast a nice shadow.

Thom got a photo of me trying to hold off the guy behind me. I was completely drenched!! You can only see 2 small dry areas on my hips! One hand is clutching my car keys and the other is doing that weird thing I do with my pinky when I'm racing. Here's the photo:

Jeremy told me that it was a rough race for him as well. So I had to laugh when I saw how great and effortless he looked in his photo:

I think he always looks like that. Remember in the photos from our last half marathon together back in May, he looked FANTASTIC at the finish while PRing:

HOW DO YOU DO IT, JEREMY?!?!

Anyway, my suffering was slightly worth it because I was sent my "age group" award a few days after the race. (I couldn't stick around because I needed to get home and watch Henry so Momma could get in a workout too!) Actually, Jeremy and I BOTH got 3rd in our age groups, so we both got a nice plaque:

Oh, and on a quick unrelated note, I just signed up for my first 25K!! (That's about 15.5 miles.) It's THIS SUNDAY, and I hope to not bonk too hard. If I finish, it will be my longest running race that I've ever finished! (I started one marathon 4 years ago, but didn't finish.)

And my wife just signed up for her 2nd 50K! She'll be doing that in Oct, 3 years after doing her first 50K!

Sometimes I think we're crazy.... :)