{"id":7559,"date":"2011-10-10T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T05:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/?p=7559"},"modified":"2011-10-31T07:59:35","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T06:59:35","slug":"pennys-race-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/7559","title":{"rendered":"Penny’s Race Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I went to watch my friend Penny<\/a> run her first 5k.\u00a0 This was a huge thing for her and she had been working incredibly hard to get there, so there was no way I could miss it!\u00a0 I was so proud of all she has achieved over the last while, and I couldn\u2019t wait to be there screaming for her as she crossed the finish line. \u00a0I was also keen to take photos because while I have taken photos from races before, like the Rotterdam Marathon<\/a>, I’ve never known anyone that was taking part. \u00a0I was excited about the challenge for myself photography wise but also to capture the memories for her.<\/p>\n

\"Project<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a beautifully sunny day with Indian Summer in full effect here in the Netherlands, the temperatures were set to go up into the high 20\u2019s! \u00a0 Xander and I made sure to leave early to make sure we got a good spot to park and that we were able to find them in time before the race.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad we did because there was quite a crowd and it wasn\u2019t long after we arrived that the masses really started arriving.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

She was running together with two of her friends, which was great because I\u2019m sure it was a lot less daunting than if she were to do her first one on her own.\u00a0 Her husband\u2019s cousin was also running in the race but we weren\u2019t able to find her before the start.<\/p>\n

\"Suzanne<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Raring<\/a><\/p>\n

She and her friend Suzanne were raring and ready to go. They had been planning this together for quite some time and were pretty excited.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t blame them, I was excited too and I wasn\u2019t even running.<\/p>\n

Once the race was getting ready to start I found a spot to squeeze in on the sides.\u00a0 I was a little irritated because some really tall Dutch guy had his arm stuck out videotaping the whole thing, which blocked my view (and probably a load of people behind me as well) and made it difficult for me to get photos.\u00a0 I bitched loads to Xander, in the end trying to do so extra loud so the guy would hear and knock it off, but it wasn\u2019t until whoever it was he was waiting for went by that he finally moved out of the way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure it mattered though, because I quickly remembered how difficult it is to take photos during a race.\u00a0 Do they all have to move so fast? What\u2019s the hurry?<\/p>\n

\"And<\/a><\/p>\n

\"At<\/a><\/p>\n

Even with the guy gone I could hardly see, so I had Xander watch and yell when he saw Penny coming.\u00a0 I just barely caught her as she came into view and then was gone in just a few seconds! \u00a0Before the race I told her to stop when she saw me and give me a few poses, but she didn\u2019t listen.\u00a0 After taking the photos I screamed like a mental patient, all \u201cWAHOOOO PENNY GO PENNY GO PENNY!!!\u201d until Xander reminded me that she had her earphones in and couldn\u2019t hear me anyway\u2026 then stepped away and pretended not to know me.<\/p>\n

Once she and her friends went by we scurried off to the finish line to wait for them.<\/p>\n

Her husband\u2019s cousin and one of Penny\u2019s friends, I\u2019m sorry I don\u2019t remember their names now\u2026 both finished before I was able to get in and get a photo.\u00a0 Again, such a hurry!\u00a0 You\u2019d think they were in a race or something!<\/p>\n

\"Suzanne<\/a><\/p>\n

When I finally did manage to wiggle my way up to the rail I was just in time to catch Suzanne crossing.\u00a0 She looked so happy and looked like she could turn around and do it all over again!<\/p>\n

\"Crossing<\/a><\/p>\n

Penny wasn\u2019t far behind and look at how proud she was!\u00a0 I started screaming again, I didn\u2019t care if she couldn\u2019t hear me, I was proud of her too!<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a><\/p>\n

This time she DID stop so I was able to get more photos.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if it was for my benefit or that she was just keen to stop moving, either way it worked for me!<\/p>\n

\"After<\/a><\/p>\n

I continued to stalk her and her friends from the sidelines, taking photos of them and some of the other runners.\u00a0 They were having a great gab for a while, which I assume was about the race, the heat, the other runners around them and whatever else runny people talk about after a race.<\/p>\n

\"Noah,<\/a><\/p>\n

We finally caught up with Yuri\u2019s cousin and I couldn\u2019t stop thinking of how unbelievably alike they look.\u00a0 Yuri and his cousin, I mean\u2026 I wish I\u2019d gotten a photo of them together because the strength of those family genes are astounding.\u00a0 If you know Yuri and saw this photo you\u2019d be all \u201cHey Yuri, why are you crouching down like that, and why do you have that blond wig on?\u201d.\u00a0 Seriously, it\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n

It is my life\u2019s mission now to get a photo of them together\u2026 OR, to put a blond curly wig on Yuri and get a photo of that.\u00a0 Actually, that sounds like a lot more fun.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to Penny\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the look of a woman who just achieved something pretty amazing.\u00a0 She set herself a goal, worked hard, went to that race and kicked ass.<\/p>\n

I think I told her about 100 times how proud I was of her.\u00a0 I also, being me, came dangerously close to getting weepy a few times.\u00a0 Whatever, it\u2019s what I do.<\/p>\n

She is an inspiration and I\u2019m so glad I was there to see all her hard work pay off!\u00a0 Well done, my friend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I went to watch my friend Penny run her first 5k.\u00a0 This was a huge thing for her and she had been working incredibly hard to get there, so there was no way I could miss it!\u00a0 I was so proud of all she has achieved over the last while, and I couldn\u2019t …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35,33,173,881,530],"class_list":["post-7559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-life-in-nl","tag-friends","tag-netherlands","tag-penny","tag-photography-artsy-fartsy","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7559"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7565,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions\/7565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}