Roving Photographers: THE WORST IDEA EVER

Sometimes I sign up for a race that claims to have photos on the course, but then it turns out that these photos are taking by a "roving photographer." This is a lone individual who trots about the course and takes pictures of several different obstacles, or trails, or intersections, or whatever the hell they end up taking pictures of. Because you guys, they NEVER end up taking pictures of me. Never.

I have gotten screwed over by roving photographers at every single race that has "boasted" them this year. Gladiator Assault Challenge. Conquer the Gauntlet. The Runner's Flat Fall Endurance Festival. Not one photo at any of these joints. And it is because the concept is flawed. A roving photographer will see maybe 10% of the participants with all that bouncing around. They'll get a variety of pictures, but those pictures are not useful to anyone except the lucky few who end up in them. Normally if you are in an early heat, you are far more likely to get pictures. The road race equivalent of this is, if you are winning the race or close to it, you will get pictures, and if you aren't, you're screwed. Even when I SEE a roving photographer, the odds of them taking a picture of me and/or posting it on the internet are demonstrably zero.

This blog post is not so much advice for anyone who is racing at an event with a roving photographer (I have no clue how to get a photo out of them). I guess if you happen to see one, specifically ASK them to take your picture. Because it's not intuitive for some of these folks, bless their hearts. (At Conquer the Gauntlet I ran right past a photographer who said "great job!" but didn't lift his camera up. AYFKM?) My advice is for race directors who are thinking about going this route: don't. If you can only afford one photographer, plant them somewhere specific (like one fun obstacle, or the finish line) and have them freakin' stay there and take everybody's picture.

And while I'm at it, offer the pictures for free. The fact that Spartan has free pictures is not only a nice customer perk, it is brilliant marketing. Their customers post the photos and other potential customers will see them and think "wow, that looks fun! I should do that!" Meanwhile lots of smaller OCRs and every single road race I've ever done charges a ludicrous sum of money for event photos. Talk about a missed opportunity.

On a related but slightly different note, Terrain Race Oshkosh promised photographers and I did not see a single one on the course, and I ran that thing three times and started in an early heat. The official Terrain Race Facebook page has barely responded to my inquiry about whether they even HAD a photographer on the course. Terrain Race: get your shit together.

Now that I have ranted about course photography, I promise to get back to regularly scheduled programming soon. I'm finally on the mend from my collarbone-area injury and have been running great 6-mile training runs. The only "race" remaining this fall is a digital half marathon Beat The Blerch that I can run any time I want. Maybe on Thanksgiving. Gobble gobble.

Race Recap: The Runner's Flat Fall Endurance Festival

The Runner's Flat Fall Endurance Festival 10/13/18 Cedar Falls, IA

Weather: 35-40 degrees and breezy
Terrain: (Mostly) gravel roads, rolling hills

Distance: 25K (also had 50K and 10K options)

I decided to finish my 2018 race season with a running event that was extremely local and low-pressure. I've been working on my trail running all year and figured, what a great opportunity to test myself! Unfortunately, Mother Nature has had a really bitchy month, and the regular route for this race was totally underwater. The show must go on, and the race director found a new route that took us well north of the super-high river on rural gravel roads. After some debate, I chose to wear my trail shoes instead of road shoes. Game on.

This race was teeny tiny and therefore the logistics were fairly easy. Parking was not a problem, with an easy 30-second walk to the start line from my vehicle. The way this worked was the 50K folks started at 7 AM, the 25K (including me) at 8 AM, and the 10K at 9 AM. We started right on time and ran out on concrete trails and roads for about 1.5 miles until the gravel started. I was immediately glad that I chose trail shoes, as the rocky gravel was a bit of an ankle-breaker. Throughout the race my knees and hip flexors would progressively start hurting more and more from all the uneven rocks. There were no mile markers and, it turns out, no bathrooms on the course. Thank goodness I was in dead-last place the entire time (spoiler alert? LOL) so I just went in the ditch when the time came.

The course was out and back and there were two aid stations that we passed a total of four times. These aid stations were the most freakin' stocked masterpieces I've ever seen in my days. There were no fewer than FOUR beverage options, and lots of different foods - sweet, salty, starchy, you name it. It was basically Ironman aid stations. So luxurious. If they'd stuck a port-a-john at each station I would have been in heaven. I was able to run the entire way out to the turnaround, then on the way back I hit the headwind. UFFDA. My knees were like "SEE YA" and just straight-up left the premises. I had to walk a lot of the second half, which was okay with me. I was pleased to see that despite having some lousy training in the past few weeks (my shoulder is injured still), and terrible pre-race nutrition (i.e. several pina coladas on vacation), my general fitness was still pretty strong, and my cardio was awesome.

A word about my fellow participants: they were GREAT. Almost everyone said "good job!" to my slow butt out on the course. Even the first-place 25K finisher, who was a lady (yay, girl power!) and the first-place 50K guy (who caught me on the way back, around my mile 8.5). Everyone was super nice and this race clearly attracts that "crazy trail runner" element that lends itself to a lot of camaraderie.

The volunteers at this race were all very friendly and encouraging, too. At mile 14.5 I was offered a fireball shot by the volunteer at the intersection, to which I said "REALLY?" and she said "REALLY!" So of course I did it. It made my belly a lot warmer. Rounded the final corner to cheers and finished in about 3:18, which was about 15 minutes slower than the second-to-last finisher. But we all know I am not a stranger to last place, and I really don't mind bringing up the rear, especially in an out-and-back. And there were fewer than 50 finishers, anyway, so being last place isn't as tragic as usual ;)

After the race we had to travel a bit to a local beer garden to get our finisher prize of a pint glass, which we could use to get a free beer (I had passionfruit, it was incredible). We were served a free lunch of chili and cheese bread, which was delicious. There were door prizes handed out after the awards ceremony as well. Doing this race basically requires you to commit to the post-race lunch to get your full finisher benefits, so keep that in mind if you sign up.

Pros:

-People. Everyone was so nice.
-Aid stations were totally pimped out.
-Pint glass instead of a medal. Practical and useful.

Cons:

-Needed bathrooms, for sure. The ditch worked in a pinch, but I do like a bathroom on occasion.
-No mile markers. It turned out okay, but I'd have liked them.
-Course wasn't super inspired, but they had to work with what was available and not 6 feet underwater at the time, so I'm not upset about it.

Race Grade: B. Food during and after the race is unrivaled, but a fairly minimalist event.