Wedding Plans

Some people plan their wedding for more than a year and some don't.


A couple months ago Clay was approached about photographing a wedding the day after the Baltimore Marathon - a Sunday.  It was one of Clay's elite runners who happens to live in Oregon, but he and his fiance grew up in southern Pennsylvania and had lately begun planning their wedding.


Shooting a wedding the day after the marathon meant adding another hectic day onto a week of hectic days.  Sunday would start in Baltimore long before the sun was up; Clay would take athletes to the airport - two trips - before 7 am.  After that we would head to the Sunday market, drive home to York, quickly get gussied up, and then drive to Lancaster where we would spend six hours shooting, arriving back home around 10 pm.


I think we decided to do it because the bride and groom were marathon runners.


I spoke to the groom on the telephone and a few weeks later spoke to the bride.  She said she would think about things and get back to me.  I actually heard from her seven days before the wedding date, and I'm not sure what the back-up plan was . . .


Anyway, it all worked out and the wedding was very nice.  The bridesmaids were dressed in an unusual color set, but definitely appropriate for autumn.  The groomsmen were in sport jackets and casual pants.


The wedding was outdoors at a beautiful venue - the Landis Valley Museum.  The outdoor setting and wonderful weather allowed for interesting pre-ceremony photos.  The reception was in a barn-like building.


They pulled off a nice event in approximately two months, maybe a bit more.

Baltimore Marathon Was Today

The marathon was great and resulted in a new women's course record by Ukranian Olena Shurkhno and a reasonably good men's time.  A few pictures below.

Russian women and Ukranian Shurkhno (F26) before the race.

Dave "Frodo" Berdan on his way to PR of 2:21:19.

Shurkhno wins 2011 Baltimore Marathon with course record time.

Beginning of the 2011 marathon.

Stephen Muange wins 2011 Baltimore Marathon.

More interesting to me were observations of the people I interacted with this week/weekend.


In no particular order:

• The Russian/Ukranian women were quite pleased with the beer after their superb running.  Note that Shurkhno has three 32 oz beers at 11 am in the morning!!  Runners may want to take note of this apparently successful training regime.

• Carolyn and Steve were a tremendous help to Clay as always and are  competent at managing the athletes.
• The program of home-hosting athletes is a success.  The athletes love the special attention and comfortable surroundings and the families truly enjoy it.  The adults and the kids bond with the athletes and learn a bit about countries very different from the USA.  Paula Harmon, who coordinates the program for Clay, says that this is a highlight of the year.
• Corrigan Sports Enterprises focuses on customer satisfaction.  Participation in the various events has increased every year - 25,000 participants this year in spite of hefty race fees.  An example:  there was a problem with the number of shirts printed for one event.  All participants immediately received an email acknowledging the problem and stating how and when the race would resolve it.
• Clay is the elite athlete coordinator and is well loved by the athletes, their managers, and the families that host the athletes.  He is good at this.
• I had a nice conversation with Steve Nearman (journalist, race director, financial advisor, et al.)
• I meet interesting people every year at races.  This time:
• Derege:  A interesting Ethiopian who has lived in the US for many years.  He wrote and published a book about his father, who was killed in their homeland.  I am eager to read the English translation, and since it is not ready to be published, Derege asked me to give him full feedback on the readability.  His story sounded interesting enough that I suggested he contact Bob Edwards of Sirius/XM about appearing on his show.
• Mary:  A USA athlete from California who had a pretty serious conflict with another athlete; fortunately, they managed to stay away from each other.  Tonight Mary put some braids/dreadlocks in my hair.  Carolyn and I asked her to come to the marathon trials in Houston a day early to do the whole [braiding] job on both of us.  Imagine me with dreadlocks!!
• Hicham - a NYC guy who drove some athletes to Baltimore and then helped Clay a lot.  A truly nice person and I hope that we will keep in touch.
• Jim Adams, owner of the Falls Road Running Store, hosted Bill Rodgers - a very nice treat.  However, I was amazed that lots of regular runner types don't even know who he is.

That's it!

I'm Wired!

From now on, I'm wired.  I can email, text, Google, check the weather, Skype, or use a GPS - whenever I want to.  


I admit it; I love gadgets and technology.  I needed a Kindle even though I had a boatload of actual books queued up for me at home.  I transferred my running logs from paper to electronic, because the electronic version could give me charts, graphs, compilations, shoe mileage, mapped and measured routes, and all forms of analysis - none of which I need.  I got an iPod because they were cool, even though I never used it much.  I love reading about cameras and lenses and eventually buying new ones.  I love my Adobe Lightroom.  For knitting, the coolest thing ever was the invention of Ravelry, and the only thing ever wrong with it was, and is, that I can spend so much time on Ravelry that I use up valuable knitting time.  I love to learn new software, and I love when my software is upgraded.  


The only thing that competes with all of this is that I also love good value for my money - and all new technology becomes cheaper after awhile.


So, this week I finally broke down and got two new things:  a laptop and an iPhone.  I'm using my new laptop to write this post and I've preordered my iPhone 4S.


I'm in technology heaven.

Chicago Marathon

We flew to Chicago on Saturday to stay with close friends and cover the Chicago Marathon.  It was Indian summer, with temps in the high 70's and low humidity.  Our travel was uneventful.


We took the train into the city to pick up our press credentials, visit the expo, and see people that we see infrequently.  Saturday evening we had dinner with Falmouth Matt and his friend who would run the marathon Sunday morning.


We stayed outside of the city for a couple nights with good friends.  It was great to see them.


Sunday was the marathon.  Luckily for the runners, especially those at the front of the field, it was cooler than it might have been.  That, coupled with the low humidity, allowed for some very fast times including a new men's course record.


Clay and I photographed from numerous locations, clocking about five miles of walking.  It was pretty easy to get around without ever really getting stuck within the perimeter of the runners.


Next up, Baltimore Marathon, which is Saturday, October 15.

Gary and his daughter, Brigid

Marilyn at sunrise in Chicago

Wheelchair racer speeds by spectators

Liliya Shobukhova with Dibaba and pack of men

Male leaders at halfway

Woodrow Wilson Half Marathon

We photographed this race on Sunday - a point-to-point race that begins at Mount Vernon Estate, VA, continues up the George Washington Memorial Parkway, crosses the Potomac River on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and finishes at National Harbor, MD.  Steve Nearman is the event director and he and his committee have created an exciting and professional event, appealing to the regular runner and competitive at the front.  The race benefits six separate charities, making it more than just fun for the runners.

Clay and I have been the photographers both years and it is a fun day for us.  On the day of the 2010 race, the weather was perfect.  Sunday, however, was the first cold (slightly cold, but quite a change from previous months) day of the year.  At 5 am it was dark, windy, cold, and rainy.  By race start, however, the rain had stopped and the wind was less burdensome.  The sun even peeked out several times and created rainbows.  Riding the press truck (actually an expensive and beautiful Mercedes convertible donated by Mercedes-Benz of Alexandria) was great.

The race times were great, and both men and women had course records.  Four American men qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials which are scheduled for January in Houston.

On our drive home we stopped at IKEA, where we will buy new furniture for Clay's basement office, which was flooded on September 8, after both Irene and Lee came through our town within four days of each other and dropped approximately 12-15 inches of rain.

Moses Kepkosgei wins the men's division with a event record of 1:02:37.

Bekelech Bedada wins the women's division with a record time of 1:12:44.

Four American men ran times fast enough for the Olympic Marathon Trials

Moses Kipkosgei runs by the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on his way to winning the race.  National Harbor is in background on right.

Wonderful finish line volunteers.

Michael Wardian finishing the race for 8th place among men.

Runners mug for photographer near mile 11.

Event director Steve Nearman focuses on doing good things for the community.  Here he poses with Brooke Curran who has raised more than $50,000 for charities through 2010 and has a goal of $50,000 more in 2011.  Her organization is called RunningBrooke.  Doreen Gentzler of NBC and honorary race chair is also pictured.

Amy McDonaugh, 34, of Irmo, SC, rounds a corner near the finish with a rainbow at her back on the way to winning the visually handicapped division in an amazing time of 1:24:00, for #5 among all women competitors.