On the run, two

Modes of transport, Right Bank of the Seine.

Last week I set the stage for a series of posts of photographs taken with an iphone during my daily runs wherever I happen to be. The wonderful thing about running is that if you’re resourceful there’s always a place to do it. My worst ever experience was running around the parking lot of a motel in Overland Park, Kansas about a hundred times in 1982. Or was it running through cemetery across the street from the O’Hare Marriott in the dead of winter?

Lone Figure, the beach in Keremma, Brittany.

At my running pace, scarcely more than a brisk walk, it’s no great effort to stop and snap a subject that captures my fancy. I’m not even winded. If nothing else, I get a record shot that will take me back to a sweet moment in the past. And, like every photograph I’ve ever taken, I have nearly complete recall of that moment, the weather, my running course and how I felt.

As I ran toward the beach from our hotel I passed a young woman who was trying to catch the bus that was pulling away from the curb. Arc de Triomf, Barcelona.

Possibly my favorite running route of all time is the 8 mile loop through Saguaro National Park East in Tucson. Here Barrel Cactus needles and deep shadows form a Sonoran desert still life.

Capturing a finite moment in time like this keeps the memory fresh when without the visual cue it might have faded entirely. Early Sunday morning I had that revelation and the revelation told me to pursue photographs that combine running which I am compelled to do with photography that I should do. There I’ve said it again. For 46 years running has been the first thing on my mind when I get up in the morning. That suggests that I should get it out of the way first, so it doesn’t hang over me like damp rag the rest of the day. My true self is aware that the habit isn’t entirely healthy and that it mitigates against balance and more august pursuits like serious writing and photography. But, until I finish therapy, I’ll keep on feeding the rat.