168/365 Run, runners, run!

Part of my family's Old Fashioned Days tradition each year includes getting up first thing on Labor Day, grabbing a blanket and breakfast (or coffee), and sitting wrapped up on the front porch to watch the participants of the annual 10K run.

When you live far outside urban life, this is pretty much as exciting as front-porch sitting can get. The only thing rivaling it is a good thunderstorm.

It's a tough 10K route packed with hills. There are three or four killer hills near the end of the race, too, so finishing strong is a challenge. While we're sitting on the porch, we can hear any conversations, whose breathing seems to be labored, who drags their feet... And they can hear us when we cheer them on (especially the runners at the back).

This year, toward the back of the pack, we could hear a woman cheering on a fellow runner as they approached. When they crossed in front of the house, the man she was cheering on kept saying, "Look how far away that road is! It's so far!" But she kept telling him to focus on other things, look to the left and right, etc. Then when they turned around at the halfway point, she was singing when they passed us again.

I can only hope that he took this as encouraging distraction instead of a horrible annoyance.

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/5.6 at ISO 250 at about 8:30 a.m.