The people in the background

This is one of the pictures I took of Mark and Stephen after the marathon.   It was after they had finally found each other, and then had made their way over to me for a close-up, non-stalker zoom lens photo.  They are both having the highest emotional moment of their lives.  They both had just reaped the fruits of months and months of early mornings, long and hard running and physical and mental discipline.  You can see they are very happy and relieved.

After I looked at this picture on my big Mac screen at home, I noticed some other people did not have such a good day.  On the far right you'll see Stephen (not my Stephen, but another).  He has high black socks and a white headband.  He started near mark in the corrals, and he was a serious runner.  He had plans for a sub-3:00 marathon.  He had his kids planted at 3 different spots along the marathon route to give him water bottles, and he had a pace chart on his left forearm to keep him on track.  Mark remembers seeing him at mile 15, where they were both still on track for a sub-3:00 time.  And then something went wrong for poor Stephen and he didn't finish the race.  You can see from him face, especially when I zoom in, that he is very disappointed.    Sure he is in the finisher's area eating a post-race banana, but look around his neck.  No medal.  And when you look at the race results, he did not finish.  I have no idea what happened to him, but it is sad that for him it was not his day.

Another sad story in this picture is Jim.  He is to the right of Mark in the background.  He has a green race bib.  He is standing with shoulders slouched forward and a sad look on his face.  He is also missing the medal, and did not finish.  His face just makes me so sad and you can see him looking around at all the other people who were able to finish.   Maybe next year Jim will have a better race.

You can see the guy to the left of Stephen (my Stephen) named Assefa.  You can tell from his face that he had a good race, is completely wiped out but satisfied with what he was able to do that day.  And he has a medal--or at least I think that is a medal hanging around his neck and hiding under his race bib.

I also notice the girl in the pink tank top between Stephen and Assefa.  I know from a couple of other pictures in this series that she has a medal.  She is obviously having some post-race butt cramps.  I can tell from her yoga pigeon pose--that's the best way to stretch out the gluteus medius after a run.

It is kind of funny to look at the people in the background of all the pictures I took.  I wonder whose pictures I am in the background of, and what people are saying about me.