I was going to post this in my
jtj3 blog, but since there's a photo involved I thought I'd put it here also.
Last Sunday, my friend Roger and I went to the opening of a
Road Runner Sports store nearby. We went not only to check out the store, but to meet one of my running heroes who happened to be doing an appearance there that day. His name is
John Bingham, but if you're into running or read Runners' World, you might know him as "The Penguin."
He came to running late in life, but since has completed 40 marathons and hundreds of 5K and 10K races. He also wrote a book on marathon training for non-runners, and another on how to start running--how to train, how to work it into your schedule, etc. He's also the man responsible for one of my favorite quotes for runners training for their first race: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." It definitely made me feel not quite so bad about my failed marathon attempts...the hard work, and the accomplishment, is just as much in the training as it is in the race itself.
Anyway...there wasn't much of a crowd there, so we stood and talked with John and his wife for probably 15-20 minutes.
John's company organizes and manages the
Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, so he was handing out and signing technical t-shirts (synthetic fabric, they carry the sweat away from your body--VERY good shirt to do training runs in!). John is a very personable and engaging guy with a big smile and words of encouragement for runners of any level.
One last kinda funny thing--John's wife was nice enough to take this picture of the three of us with my camera phone. She then took another shot with her camera--so
the same picture showed up on his blog Monday. Hey, wow, I'm famous now!
Another photo (and a shorter story) soon...
Paul Konerko, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, at bat. Fans call him "Paulie" and love chanting his name when he's up.
He came to running late in life, but since has completed 40 marathons and hundreds of 5K and 10K races. He also wrote a book on marathon training for non-runners, and another on how to start running--how to train, how to work it into your schedule, etc. He's also the man responsible for one of my favorite quotes for runners training for their first race: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." It definitely made me feel not quite so bad about my failed marathon attempts...the hard work, and the accomplishment, is just as much in the training as it is in the race itself.
A leaf beetle, shot on a bright summer day at a small park near home.
Another view of the Sweden-to-Denmark bridge that I featured in yesterday's post.
I shot this while on vacation last year. This is in the Baltic sea, and the bridge joins Sweden and Denmark. I called it "Bridge to Infinity because you can't see its beginning or its end. I shot a sequence just as we went under the bridge, and this was my favorite of all of them.
A macro shot of a beautiful red rose in full bloom.
San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge. The color version of this looked a little flat, but I really like the contrast in black and white.
I shot this fairly early in the morning at a small park near my work. I was really struck with how calm and mirror-like the surface of the water was. It reminds me of some of the paintings Monet did of water lilies.
The mist hanging on the mountains and hillsides of the the Inner Passage in Alaska. In person, it looked even cooler than the photo does.
I took some pictures recently at a small park on my way to work--it's a quiet lake that's just off a busy street. As I was walking back to my car I spotted this backlit leaf. I pretty much just framed it, opened up the lens wide (to blur the background), and shot it as is. Other than cropping, I did no real post-processing.
In the past week or so, a group of 5 juvenile blue herons has been making its way through our neighborhood--I've seen them at various times in our back yard, our front yard, in the trees, etc. I managed to catch a couple up in the trees on the 4th, and here is the best-looking one of the bunch. Enjoy.
