And the Winner of the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest Is...

I know all of my 28 readers have been anxiously awaiting this announcement, so I apologize to them and especially to the two contestants, for the delay.

Danny, who blogs at "Math on the Run" sent us this entry:

XLMIC who blogs at "Taking it On", shared this entry:

The voters have spoken, and our winner is Danny!  I'd make a joke here about my low voter turnout, but I don't want to detract from the seriousness of this contest.

Thank you both for entering! Danny wins a $35 Road ID gift certificate and XLMIC wins a $15 Dunkin Donuts gift card.  I'll be contacting you about how to send your prizes.

I am also very appreciative of the support of RoadID and Inside PR, who contributed the first-place prize.

Thanks also to everyone that read these posts and voted.  I'll probably do this again next year.  It was fun for me, and hopefully others enjoyed it as well.  Maybe I can get more participants with prize winners to vouch that I didn't sell their e-mail to spammers or send them a box of cats or something like that.  I know that I've already got some new bad race photos of my own that it will give me a chance to share.

VOTE NOW for the the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest Winner

After a month of not running and scrounging the dusty corners of my brain for blog post ideas, I launched the blog's first contest & giveaway: The First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to You by Road ID). As the name implied, Road ID contributed a $35 gift card for the winner, and I'm offering a $10.00 Dunkin Donuts gift card for the runner up.

Though readers said the idea was funny, participation was a bit lower than I'd hoped, leading me to believe that the idea was not as hilarious as I'd thought. Two brave souls participated, and it's now time to choose our winner.

Photos appear in the order in which they were submitted.

Danny, who blogs at "The Quest for Running Perfection" sent us this entry:


XLMIC who blogs at "Taking it On", shared this entry:


Please vote for your favorite in the poll below. Voting is open through the end of March.

Who has the best (worst) bad race photo?




Thanks again to both of our contestants for participating and to Road ID and Outside PR for their help!

Last Chance, First Impressions, and One Year Ago

Last Chance!
I'm sure you're tired of reading about it, but this really is the last day to enter the First and Last Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to You by Road ID). I thought I'd give it one more mention since I usually get more page views during the week than on weekends.

If your bad race photo is voted the winner (by commenters or poll voters, not me) you get a $35 Road ID gift card. 2nd prize is a $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card. You can either leave a link to the picture in the comments of this post or the original (below), you can e-mail it to me at earnyourdonuts@gmail.com. I won't post your full name on my blog or spam you or anything.

Go here for all the details:
http://earnyourdonuts.blogspot.com/2012/02/first-annual-earn-your-donuts-bad-race.html

I'd like to get the entries up for voting later this week, but this is kind of a crazy week. I don't think it would be fair to both of our contest entrants to extend the deadline, though!





First Impressions
Ok, with administrative matters aside...as far as actual running, last week was kind of a washout. After Monday's three, I didn't run again till Saturday because I was sick on Wednesday and Thursday, and by the time I felt better on Friday afternoon, why bother? Saturday is a regular running day anyway. I ran four miles again, which was my plan all along. I was a little slower than last week, and felt the most out of breath since starting to run again, which I think was just the remains of my cold or allergies.

I'll go for three miles tonight, most likely. It is supposed to be in the 60s today, which is great, I suppose, except 1) I can't stay healthy the crazy fluctuating weather we've had this winter -- I have never been sick this much in one winter; 2) I actually like running when it's in the 30s and 40s; and 3) I suspect this is going to come back to haunt us in a really hot summer. If this week goes well, I'll try for five this weekend.

I did my leg program for the first time yesterday (finally getting to the "First Impressions" mentioned in the title). It included leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, hip abductors, hip adductors, calf raise machine, and I did abs, too. The fact that I'm largely pain-free today probably means I need to add a lot more weight if this going to actually do any good.

One Year Ago
This is a week of anniversaries. One year ago today my wife ran her first half marathon, the 2011 Disney Princess Half Marathon. She did great, but she wasn't sure at the time whether she'd run that distance again. We know how that turned out...in less than a month from now she'll be running her third half! Congratulations again, Princess Chris!

OMG!!! TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!! PANIC!!!! (Bad Race Photo Contest)

So, soon I won't have to pimp it in every single blog post, because the First (and let's face it, Last) Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to You by Road ID, who are probably very disappointed in me) is coming to an end tomorrow (Monday) night at 11:59PM.

So if you were planning to enter -- and I'm sure you were! -- you better get a move on. Your opportunity to win a $35 Road ID gift certificate is running out.

Details here:
http://earnyourdonuts.blogspot.com/2012/02/first-annual-earn-your-donuts-bad-race.html

Thanks very much to both our entrants so far for playing along, and particularly to Danny for the link on his blog, The Quest for Running Perfection.

I went on a long run yesterday and have my second training session this afternoon, so maybe I'll put up a real post later. Maybe.

(I thought this contest was a good idea.
Just like I thought that carrying an
imaginary dachshund while I ran was a good idea.)

A Bunch of Stuff that I'm too Lazy to Think of a Witty Title For

• I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but there's only a few days left to enter the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to You by Road ID). We've got two entries that I think are classics, but there's no other brave souls out there willing to make fun of yourself a little for a $35 Road ID Gift Certificate? Send in entries as instructed or leave a link to your photo in the comments, whichever's easier for you. Submissions will be accepted until 11:59PM ET on Monday, 2/27/2012.
  
  
• So, I guess I'll get the update on the Great Comeback of 2011 out of the way -- it's going fine. 3.1 miles on Monday in 28:28. I felt really great for the first two miles, as if all my mediocre powers had returned, and then kind of died at mile 3. Today was supposed to be running day, but I took a day off because I've felt sick with cold symptoms plus a huge headache all day. If I feel better tomorrow, I'll run 2 or 3 miles. If not, I'll probably just put it off to Saturday to get back on a regular schedule.
  
  
• I took the day of on Monday. We didn't do anything exciting, but it was a nice relaxing day. However, we did go to the gym that evening. I rode 6.5 miles on the bike in half an hour and did (ellipticalled?) 3.1 miles on the elliptical. I slept really well Monday night!
  
  
• I don't like to talk about my job very much on the blog, but on Tuesday, I had one of the worst days of work I've ever had in eight years of my job. It's pretty common for me to be stressed or burnt-out, but this day just left me really, really, angry...like "want to punch a wall angry". I know that doesn't end well, so instead, I took my frustration out in the weight room, and let's just say that I should lift every time I'm really mad about something. Increased weight in everything. Note to self: download a bunch of older Metallica albums for the full angry lifting effect.
  
  
• I went my first of four personal training sessions at the Y later on Tuesday night. It's more of an informational session/orientation than a real workout, or I wouldn't have lifted before. This evening's session was an introduction to all the leg machines, and let's just say that I was a little sore today just from the one set of everything that I did. Leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, calf raise machine, hip abductor, hip adductor (don't ask me to remember which is which!).
  
  I've barely done any legwork at all (Except, you know, running), so I think this will make a big difference in improving my endurance. Hopefully will make me a little quicker, too. (There'll be some instruction -- which I need! -- on free weight leg exercises, too, but that's a later session).

(It's not a very good picture,
but I was trying to be sneaky so that I didn't look creepy.)

• This has been another pretty boring entry. You know what that means: ADORABLE KITTENS!!!
  

(Carl, the orange tabby, and PT, the brown and white tabby,
were two of my pals from the Adoption Center at Petsmart.
Luckily, they've both found homes.)

Dream Another Dream, This Dream is Over

• I officially deferred from the 2012 Shamrock Marathon this morning. I was looking forward to (hopefully) improving from last year, getting all the goodies, and enjoying the post-race party, but it's been pretty clear since late December that this wasn't going to happen. Get 'em next year, right?
  
  
• I have a Twitter now: www.twitter.com/earnyourdonuts. I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with Twitter, but I thought it might be a good way to spread the word about the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to you By Road ID).
  
  
• Speaking of the FAEYDBRPC...maybe this contest wasn't as good or funny of an idea as I thought. No one's entered yet, so if you enter, you've got an excellent chance of winning a $35 Road ID gift certificate.
  
  
• Registration for the Broad Street Run 10-miler in Philadelphia opened today. Go to www.broadstreetrun.com to register; it'll fill up fast. It's not till May 6, so I think I could do it, but I'll hold to the new plan of taking it a bit slowly and not racing anything over 10K till the fall.
  
  
• I went for my second run of the comeback tour on Monday night. 3 miles in 29:39. I think I miscounted laps because it seemed like I was pushing myself more than I did on Saturday. More soreness while running; less afterward. Going again on Thursday and trying a four-mile "long run" on Saturday.

(No soup for you!)

The First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest

I think race photos capture us at some of our best moments; when we're out there giving the best effort we can at something we (hopefully!) enjoy, no matter the level of competition. Better still are the ones taken at the end of the race, when we've stopped moving and the medals are around our necks.

Pictures taken during the race, well, I think they tend to sometimes come out a bit weird. Hopefully anyone who's been in a race has some photos of them running that they really like, but chances are that they've also got some like this:

(I didn't puke, I just looked like it.)

Since it's an action shot, the photographer (in the case above, my wife) is invariably going to catch me in mid-stride with my eyes closed, some other goofy expression on my face, or sometimes just looking like I'm going to die.

(Apparently, I always cross the finish line with my eyes closed?)

(Nevermind the weird facial expression.
What am I doing with my hands? Juggling?
Holding an invisible fruit basket?)

At least this one is pretty good -- I am so fast that I appear blurry!


These were the funniest ones I could find. There were probably worse ones, taken at the Baltimore Running Festival in 2010, the 2010 Philly Half, and Broad Street, but I didn't buy the photos from those races because the majority of them were strange looking or because I was behind people taller than me (which is everyone).

Then I got the pictures from the 2011 Philly Marathon. It was not my best race by any means, but the pictures generally came out ok. When I saw a photographer, I tried to make sure I was making a normal expression and not a grimace of pain. But I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing here:

(I guess I decided to zombie walk across the finish? "Brains...brains...brains!!")

At any rate, I know I can't be the only one this happens to -- in fact, I know I'm not! Adam at the "The Boring Runner" chronicled his Rock & Roll Arizona Marathon by noting how the pictures chronologically got a little more...awkward as he progressed through the race. (If you're not subscribed to his blog, you should be!)

Speed doesn't matter...if you get your picture taken while running, some of them are going to come out funny! Readers, I suspect you have some great race photos, but you probably have some bad ones, too, and I'd like you to share them in the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest.

This isn't just a chance to make fun of yourself for your own and other people's amusement, this is a chance to win fabulous prizes!

First prize is a $35 online gift certificate for Road ID, more than enough to buy any of the Road ID product models. I'm not one to lecture people about their choice of gear, but I'm going to lecture you now...this is an important! Bad things can happen out there, and a Road ID or similar piece of gear can help first responders quickly identify you and get in touch with your emergency contacts. There's similar products out there, but I can personally vouch for the quality of the Road ID Wrist ID Sport! If you've already got one for yourself, they make great gifts! If you're a fan of them on Facebook, have seen their advertisements, or have ordered products from them, it seems like a company with a good sense of humor and they very generously agreed to sponsor this contest.

(Wrist ID Sport photo from www.roadid.com)

Second prize is a $10.00 gift card to Dunkin Donuts. This is primarily a donut blog, after all.

So, let the First Annual Earn Your Donuts Bad Race Photo Contest (Brought to you by Road ID) begin! I look forward to your participation!

Rules
1. To enter, please send me the photo of yourself that you'd like to enter by Monday, Feb 27. That's two weeks to scour your hard drives. You can e-mail the photo or a link to it to me at earnyourdonuts@gmail.com, or you can post a link to it in the comments. Your photo will be posted on the blog, but no one's full name will be used (I'll use your first name only, your blogger nickname if you have one, or something else that you specify.)

2. It has to be a photo of yourself!

3. It doesn't matter if it's a professional photo or not, as long as it's during a race.

4. This is all in good fun. I think that everyone that's had race photos taken has probably been caught in a goofy pose. We're making fun of that and in doing so poking fun at ourselves, NOT commenting negatively on peoples' appearances. Any comments that I think are mean-spirited are going to get deleted faster than Usain Bolt runs 200m.

5. After 2/27, I will post all entrants and voting will take place either through blog comments or an online survey. (I reserve the right to choose or one or the other voting based on number of entries and how much free time I have!)

6. Make sure I have a way to contact you through your blog or e-mail. You wouldn't want to miss out on prizes! I won't spam you, I promise!

7. Update -- If you want to send in a good race photo with your bad one for comparison, as suggested in the comments, you're welcome to do so and I will post them together. You don't have to, though. For example, I think "zombie walk" and "invisible fruit basket" stand pretty well by themselves.