Finish Line Pictures from the Huntstville Half Marathon and Why Pictures are Important

These pictures are courtesy of my friend's husband, Tony Scott.  The neat thing about the Scott family is that they were all involved in the Huntsville Half Marathon in a different way.  Christy ran the half marathon while Tony took pictures and cheered at the finish line.  Courtney, their daughter, babysat our kids with the help of their son, Brandon.  They were highlighted at our Huntsville Track Club banquet this month when Christy received the 2011 Admiration Award.  This family is a good example of how everyone in your family can play a part in a race, even when they are not all running!

I have given a lot of though recently to how thankful I am for facebook and for those who use facebook to share albums for runners at different races.  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  That is so true with racing!  In running, having a picture to look at can really take you back to a special moment, one that you may have been too out of it to appreciate while you were living it!  I have ZERO pictures from most of my earlier races since I was usually there alone.  With facebook, I have been tagged in several people's albums.  Some that I remember are the We Run Huntsville group, Gregg Gelmis, James Hurley, and Tony Scott.  I, in turn, have taken pictures at different races too.  Having a picture of the moment you cross the finish line is such a special thing.  It takes you right back to that moment.  It is thanks to people like this who think of others that we have pictures to remember these moments of our lives.  I know I am grateful to have them!

Here I am crossing the finish line (looks to me like I am actually getting a 1:30:52 instead of the 1:30:53 in the results!). 

Photo by Tony Scott

I used up EVERYTHING I had when I raced and could not even hold my head up when I was done!  I know I look sad or even defeated in this picture, but I am actually very happy, just glad to be done.  I stayed with my head down like this, gathering my thoughts and being thankful for being done, while I walked through the finish chute.

Too tired to even hold up my head!

While we are on the subject of special running pictures, I thought I would share my FAVORITE running picture ever.  This picture is from the Rocket City Marathon in 2001, taken by Mr. Fahey (I forget his first name!).  This is my first picture ever with my husband, who was just my friend at the time.  Since this picture was taken obviously before facebook, the fact that I have a copy of it means that Mr. Fahey printed it out for me or Rick.  This picture is priceless to us and made it into our slideshow at our wedding.  All thanks to a friend who was willing to capture a very special moment!

Rick, Katie (and John Christy) running Rocket City 2001