Just received an email the other day reminding me that “Time is running out to order race photos!” from the organizers of a 10k race that we did at the end of October. It prompted me to jot down a few quick thoughts about my first experience with race photos and share them with you.

Initially, when we signed up for this race, I was very excited to find out that a professional photographer would photograph Steven and I several times during the race. My head was filled with visions of getting back photos of us looking happy, athletic, determined, etc., etc., as we made our way through the 6.2 mile course. However awesome I was expecting (or hoping) to look, the real photos tell a much different (and much sweatier) story. The following meme (courtesy of my fellow pinners at Pinterest) is a fairly accurate depiction of the actual results:

In case you haven’t caught on yet, I’m the one on the bottom, except in my case, I have photographic evidence that this is what I actually looked like! The funny part about it all is that I legitimately felt really great while I was running my 10k, but if you look at the photos, you’d think that I was dying a tortured, sweaty, blotchy death.

Let’s be honest, though. While I was a little disappointed that I looked like a sweaty monster in my photos, I’m still kind of proud of my first set of race photos. They may have been terrible, but they’re real! The challenge I faced during, and effort I put into, our first race is written all over my face, and I think I earned the right to look like a sweaty monster! Running obviously isn’t about looking beautiful (although I will admit to having made a significant effort to incorporate large amounts of pink into my running gear) and I definitely wasn’t thinking about how I looked when I ran across that finish line–I was thinking about how exhilarated I was to finally reap the rewards of all of the long hours I spent training. That said, I can guaran-damn-tee you that the next race I run, I’m going to try to pay attention at least once when I pass a photographer and SMILE!

Have any of you out there had any interesting/funny/weird race photo experiences? If you’re braver than me, feel free to show us in the comment section, or share any great race photos you’ve been lucky enough to capture!

Meagan is a geochemistry research lab manager, runner, Netflix binge-watcher, and Mom to a rescue dog, a bunny, and a human child. She started running in May 2011 and ran her first half marathon in October 2012, followed by her first marathon in October 2013. In July 2018, she joined the triathlon world and completed an Olympic-distance race. After an extended break (pregnancy/maternity leave), she is making a long-overdue return to running and is preparing for a high-elevation half marathon at Crater Lake National Park in August 2020.