Poky 50

Yesterday was the Poky 50 (a 100k trail race held here in Pocatello Idaho.) I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go practice my photography on these guys, and to try and give event photography a try. Below are my top 50 shots. Feel free to enjoy

Here we have the start of the 60k leg. Which if you look at the chart up above is at the the City Creek Aid station. I didn't get too many shots here because I was also working the aid station, but all of these guys were so ready and raring to go that I could stop handing out water for a second and take a couple of shots.

And there they go.

This guy's one of the first of the 100k runners to make it to my aid station. The course these guys were running is generally my day off bike ride loop, and I personally know that these trails are no picnic. Much of the single track is nothing but loose shale covered with a few inches of moon dust. Everything else is tight, overgrown, and filled with toe grabbing roots. By this point they had already run 25 miles through mostly dry open meadows and sage brush with little to no shade. How these guys managed to look so fresh is beyond me.

After the last runner made his way through the City Creek aid station I hopped in the car and headed over to the section of trail right before the Big Fir aid station. If you go back to the chart, this is the section of trail that drops like the space shuttle in  re-entry. Trail was nice and shady here, but it still didn't make up for the long, hip busting descent that many of these very tired runner had to go down. Gotta love some of the faces I got. One girl even almost jumped off the trail when she came around the corner because she thought I was a bear. Guess that means it's time to trim up the beard :D.

Caught my swim instructor out running the course. She was keeping a great pace by the looks of things. Didn't look like a fish out of water at all.

The force was strong with this one. Looks like he's trying to convince himself that this is the trail he's been looking for.

How some of these runners remained perky enough to strike poses, and shout out encouragement to me while they were running is simply amazing. Talk about staying positive. Either that or maybe they were just super happy to hear me shout out that the aid station was only a mile away.

Well that's a wrap. Feel free to comment and let me know about your latest run or favorite picture.