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Went out on a last Sunday and shot the California International Marathon (CIM).  This is the  first time I actually managed to make it even though I’ve thought about the last few years.  I don’t think I captured anything overly special.  I find taking pictures of folks running and managing to capture the true emotions is more challenging than other sports.

I’m not sure how I missed the lead men runners but here is the winner and 5th place finisher for the women.  7 minutes separated them at the finish but they were running together at the 11 mile mark.  Rebecca Wade (16) won the race with a time of 02:30:38.  The  other runners that I’m able to identify are:  Rob Nachtwey (in blue 5918) with a time of 02:35:32;  Trevor Feeney (Black left 2720) with a time of  02:32:47.

#30 Rebecca Wade won the women’s division. #16 Kristen Fryburg-zaitz came in second

There are pace setters for most of the 5 minute intervals.  Around the pace setters are a larger group of runners.  Here Rick Santos is setting the pace.  His finish time was 03:54:47.  My guess is that his arm was probably just as tired as his legs after holding up that sign for 26.2 miles.

Rick Santos sets the 3:55 pace for 2013 CIM.

I move to the finish line for a bit and caught this fun image of Tina Hsieh.  Rather impressive to still have enough energy after 26 miles to smile bright and show the inner hulk. Her finish time was 04:53:12.

Tina Hsieh showing her willpower at mile 26 of the 2013 CIM

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I went out and a shot the 2013 Mustard Seed Spin.  This bike ride benefits the Mustard Seed School which is part of Loaves and Fishes.  This was the 9th annual ride but the first ride I actually managed to make it out to see.  I was impressed at how well run it is.  If you live in the Sacramento area and have young kids I suggest you check out the  ride http://www.mustardseedspin.org/

Dad’s 80th.

Password is the same as it was with Mom’s

Well….Since I live in California it is only fitting that I get around to actually post a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge.   This one was taken on a recent visit to the “City” from just a few feet down the trail from the old Fort Scott: Battery Crosby.  I have tweaked the contrast of the image up a bit but tried to keep the colors true.

Golden Gate Bridge

The photo from the various camera’s from Mom’s 80th.
(Password is the same as the number of birthdays Mom has celebrated including the ordinal number suffix)

Here is a snapshot of the Venus Transit of 2012.

Transit of Venus 2012

From our location we only got around a 90% eclipse today…still not bad.   Seeing these photos —  that were not very visible in the camera until after the image was shot–brings back memories of an eclipse back when I was in grades School.  Good old Wikipedia and  a  bit of digging and I think it was this one.

This was not shot full frame since the longest lens I have that that I also have a dark enough filter was my old trusty manual  Nikon 105 2.5 lens.  Can’t decide if I should color correct the image or not.  I kinda like the purple cast it has–even though that purple cast is somewhat artificially created by the filter pack I used.

I had every intention of trying to update this blog with some more of the photos from our  trip but keep allowing myself to get sidetracked on other projects.  Anyway in honor of the masters golf game  I’ll post a basic photo of Robert Tyre Jones (Bobby Jones) grave.  He is the guy who designed (or help design) the private Augusta National golf course (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jones_(golfer))

This was shot as part of our visit to the Atlanta City owned Oakland cemetery. For some reason  that is hard to describe (perhaps it was the perfect last thing to do before heading to the airport)  it was really one of the high points of visiting Atlanta.  The grounds are well maintained and it is really is a great park to walk around in.

Golf balls are left in homage on the grave that is laid out as small putting green.

I’ve been away from the blog post for a while but thought I would try to take another stab at updating it a bit more often.  Just got back from a vacation of the south where we went through Savannah GA and anyone who has ever been to Savannah knows they have many fountains.  So here is the first one I shot.  This one happens to be the fountain in Warren square.

My camera and I had a minor disagreement today.  It wanted to complain about a corrupt memory card and I wanted it to shoot some photos.   After a few wasted seconds I won but not until the majority of bike riders flew by.  And fly they do.

So here is the basic long shot of the pack:

Amgen Tour of California Stage1 Pack

And the standard photo of the pack.

2011 Amgen Tour of California

RaboBank 2011 Tour of California

I tried to identify these two rider properly but I guess at this hour of the night my skills are not up to the task.  Here is the link to the Rabobank’s cycling home page.  http://www.rabobank.com/content/about_us/sponsoring/cycling/tab2.jsp.

According to the official Tour of California page this is the rider list for Rabobank:

• Oscar Freire (ESP)
• Lars Boom (NED)
• Coen Vermeltfoort (NED)
• Paul Martens (GER)
• Michael Matthews (AUS)
• Grischa Niermann (GER)
• Laurens Ten Dam (DEN)
• Maarten Tjallingii (NED)