8 posts tagged “andrew”
My last photo of the year!! I knew that I wanted something of Andrew and the dogs to end my 2007 photos. Here they are being silly in the backyard this afternoon.
I've been thinking about my photography goals for 2008. I'll have something but I'm not exactly sure what just yet. I do plan on taking and posting photos frequently though.
One of our traditions with foster dogs is taking a photo of each of us with the dog. Although Amber's not a foster dog this time around we still wanted to take our picture with her. It was fun being able to spend some time with her. We hope that she enjoyed her stay.
Saturday Andrew ran a marathon. His first of the year! Typically I find it hard to be a spectator during a marathon. I usually don't know the course. It takes hours to run so it gets boring quickly. In the past I've come and watched Andrew finish a marathon. This time I was able to follow him along the course for the most part. The marathon was practically in our backyard, which also made it easy for me to follow along and know where I was going. At one point Andrew was running just a couple miles from our house. He has run all of the course at one time or another during short and long runs so this helped him know what the race would be like as far as difficulty. And it was a pretty difficult course. Andrew wrote a race report, which includes more of the photos that I took throughout the day. He also posted a video that I took.
It was a mess of people. There was a lead car showing people where to go. It stopped at the point where the 8k runners turned around to head back home. Because it was driving on the right side of the road runners directly behind it were also on the right side of the road, which is actually the wrong side if you're running or walking!
The further back in the group the more confused people seemed to be. Some were running on the wrong side of the road according to the rules. Others were on the correct side. And some were in the middle of the road! Luckily none of the road portions of the course are in high traffic areas, but I did see a few cars now know what to do. As I drove ahead to look for spots to take photos I had to dodge quite a few runners. It wasn't until the half marathon runners finished that things cleared out. By then all of the marathon runners were pretty much running on their own, at least those running within minutes before and after Andrew.
My non-Andrew photos could be titled things seen along the side of a country road or trail. The weather went from mostly sunny to cloudy, which was good for Andrew as he didn't get as hot as he could have throughout the day. The high was also in the low to mid 70s so it was good running weather all around.
One of the spots where I stopped to see Andrew pass by was the Whites Bridge. This is one of two covered bridges in the area, both of which Andrew crossed during the race.
It was here that I met a guy riding a bike. He was following his wife along the course giving her encouragement and presumably being a support crew if she needed it. I also had supplies for Andrew in the event that he needed something. At one point I gave him some additional shot blocks and his iPod. I would pass this guy on a bike a few more times throughout the race, but his wife finished before Andrew and was not at the finish when we arrived.
At one point I parked at a trail head for the North Country Trail. I even hiked a little ways up the trail to get a shot of Andrew actually running on part of the trail. While I waited in a grove of pines I took some pictures.
Andrew eventually ran by but he had to whistle to let me know he was approaching. It's a good thing he did or I might have missed my photo op! I ran with Andrew from the spot where I took his photo back to the car. Then it was time for me to head to my next destination.
The next couple of spots were close to our house. Earlier in the race I was driving next to Andrew on a dirt road recording him. He mentioned how he expected to see the dogs running out there with him because this part of the course is where he'll often run with the dogs. We made plans for me to go home and pick up the dogs. Andrew would run the last part of the race with Haven and I would keep Beacon with me.
The dogs were eager to hop in the car and go on an adventure with me. Although they weren't too fond of having to ride around. They've learned that usually when we're driving slow on a dirt road something fun is going to happen. Usually this means we're taking them to the river to fetch and run in the woods. So they were both amped up.
I found Andrew running along a country road just before he was about to enter a wooded trail. The dogs started barking and doing their scream thing when they saw him. They were less than enthused when I turned around and drove away!!
I went to the spot where Andrew would be coming out of the DNR trail. We waited there. Beacon looked out of the window and waited. Haven gave me goofy looks. They both grew impatient with every passing minute. By this time Andrew was moving his slowest along the trail, feeling tired. So we had to wait a while.
The dogs again got barky and screamy when Andrew passed and they weren't allowed to get out of the car. I knew I had 10-15 minutes before meeting Andrew at the location where I'd give him Haven so that she could finish the race with him. Rather than going straight there and waiting I drove around for a short time. I figured this would help calm the dogs down, which it did a little.
The slight calming effect of the ride didn't last long. I had to wait a few minutes for Andrew to pass by while having Haven on leash outside of the car. Beacon was pissed that he had to stay in the car. Haven was hyper waiting for Andrew, especially once she could see him coming down the hill. She was spinning around, pulling, and trying to eat weeds. Andrew purposely walked down the hill to continue conserving energy. He was feeling crappy but wanted to be able to run to the finish. And he didn't want to be completely wiped out and have Haven pull him over!
Once I passed Haven off to Andrew I drove Beacon to the finish. We had to wait there for a short time. He wasn't happy being tied up to a post so that I could take pictures without him pulling me over. He also wasn't a fan of any kids running around. I think he was stressed and the kids were being "unpredictable", which annoyed him.
We watched Andrew and Haven finish. Andrew rested for a while and got something to eat and drink before we left. If you're just interested in seeing photos you can look at my Flickr set of the race rather than reading Andrew's race report.
Is it sad that this is the best photo that I took today? Perhaps a weekend of taking photos drained my creativity.
Andrew did give me permission to use this photo for today. Most of the time I mow the lawn, usually during the week while Andrew's working. This gives us more time on the weekend to do other things. Andrew typically mows either half or all of the lawn once or twice a year.
Today was the first time we mowed the front yard. Andrew saw me with the camera and struck a pose for me as he passed by. He's looking quite redneck with his farmer's tan, hat, and no shirt.
I also took this picture of Andrew and Haven the day we picked up Raven and really like how it turned out.
Last fall I wrote about Andrew's misfortunes. Since then there have been other instances where I've found some things in the wrong places. Andrew struck again today and I decided to document the misfortune. I went to fill up a drinking bottle before riding the stationary bike this morning and found this:
Recently Andrew wrote about being absent-minded. He has always had an absent-minded streak about him, even before we met. For whatever reason Andrew will put things away in incorrect places. Not too long ago he put a package of cookies in the dishwasher. I've found boxes of cereal in the refrigerator.
I'm always laughing at his misfortunes. And I got another laugh last night. Friday evening I made smoothies. One of the ingredients I use is sherbet. After I was finished scooping out what I needed I asked Andrew to put the container away.
He put it away. But he discovered Saturday evening when he went to make a PB&J that he had put the sherbet in the cabinet next to the freezer door rather than in the freezer itself! So we had sherbet soup. He put it in the freezer. I don't know if it'll actually be any good having been thawed and refrozen though.
Andrew ran the Grand Rapids Marathon this morning. His parents came to pick me up so that we could watch him finish. If you want to read about the race you can check out Andrew's post.
I took a few pictures as we waited for Andrew to test out the lighting, how much I'd have to zoom, etc. We weren't waiting too long before we saw Andrew in the distance. Actually my ILs saw him first because I was too short to see over people leaning out in front of me! He was pretty easy to spot since he had on tan shorts.
After he finished we hung out with him while he recovered bit and ate a little. Many of the other racers and their friends and family were around as well. One guy stood out though because he was dressed up! I really don't know why he was dressed up (yeah, I know Halloween is coming up but no one else had on a costume). He said he was the most photographed person who ran. Gee, wonder why.
This guy had on a wig a skirt looking thing (with shorts underneath, thankfully) and fish net thigh high stockings. I'd think that having to hike those things up or worry about them during a race would be annoying.
The weather today was pretty good. It was a little chilly and rather windy but the sun was out. That's a novelty since the past few weeks have been mostly cloudy and rainy. This is the first sunny day from start to finish that we've had in weeks.
