I’m not gonna lie. After losing 50 pounds, I kinda like looking at pictures of myself. (What? I have a blog. You knew I was probably a little narcissistic.)
It reminds me of how far I’ve come.
I especially like race photos, because I like seeing how I look to the rest of the world when I am clearly struggling inside. While I think I pushed myself harder Sunday than I’ve ever pushed myself in a race before, no race is ever easy.
Since I like race photos so much, I always try to smile when I see a camera. Really, I do this whenever I see a camera. If someone’s taking a picture, I don’t want to be caught looking stupid. But I love race photos because I think I always look so strong.
I got the race photos from the half last night, and some of them are pretty decent.
Clearly, I was looking for some inspiration from above.
Was I running in place here???
Still looking for inspiration from above.
Smiling through the pain.
Oh, thank god I’m done.
Thanks again to everyone for all the kind words about this race! It means so much to me.
—
I wanted to also address a question I got on Tumblr this morning.
Anonymous asked: I notice you’ve put up some Amazon links that have your referral code embedded. I was a little bummed to catch this since you are typically transparent about making money from things. You should mention that you profit from it and will get a kickback from your readers purchasing these things.
And here’s what I answered:
You’re right. I’ve updated my shop page on both versions of my blog to disclose that.
I’m also going to write up my own version of these bylaws to be even clearer about what I get for free/what I’ll accept for the blog. But I 100% agree with Kath’s last point, and that is my guiding principle in accepting free stuff/making money off of blog stuff:
I believe firmly in keeping the integrity of my blog and would never compromise my beliefs and standards for the sake of a payment.
That’s why I ended my OpenSky shop. It was a cool idea, but it would have been a lot of work to get the products that I actually use into my OpenSky store, and I wasn’t comfortable with selling things just because they were sent to me for free. I’m doing the Amazon affiliate program because it’s stuff that I use/would be linking to anyway, so honestly, it’s cool if I can make a few extra bucks doing that.
Wow your race photos are AWESOME! Mine never turn out that good!
And you know I never even THOUGHT about the amazon affiliates thing – letting readers know. I put my code in there when I link to products too!
Your pics are great Theodora (look I didn’t call you theo)! Did you run with a camelbak? I’ve still never tried one because my back already hurts when I run long. But Becky swears by them!!!
@Lizzy @ Food to Run For: You can call me Theo, I just don’t like being introduced as Theo! š
So my thing with the Camelbak: I do really like it, and it doesn’t bother my back at all. However, weirdly enough, it really bothered my neck. I have a mole on my neck, and it’s incredibly irritated now. I did like not having to stop at water stops during the race. I’ll probably use it again for these next two halfs, but with Body Glide/Vaseline.
Great race pictures! I always look like I’m dying. I love your headband, where did you get it?
@Danielle: Lululemon! I actually got it for free š http://losingweightinthecity.com/2010/03/seriously-this-week-cant-get-any-better/
awesome job on the race!!! Those pictures are awesome! (mine never turn out nearly as rockstar like š i always look like i’m in pain hahahaha)
Ha! And I thought I was the only one who smiled whenever I saw a camera….I’m also known to pose as well, I have a few VERY funny race pictures because of that!
You look awesome in all of them, and your captions make me laugh š
And I think I am the only blogger out there who is COMPLETELY annoyed by the incessant need to say “Full disclosure, I received this for free, I have to inform you” yadda ya. I guess that is because I only received free stuff once, and it was because I entered a competition to use it in a recipe. Ha!!
@Sarah Jayne: While I do think bloggers who get a lot of free stuff, and therefore often have to post that they got it free can get kind of annoying, I think it’s definitely necessary to be transparent.
your race photos look awesome! Mine are usually terrible even when I try to smile at the cameras. maybe some day š
Congrats. You are so amazing and inspiring!! I have no desire to run that far… EVER. But am always jealous of girls that can do it. And your race photos look great. I always look like I’m about to have a heart attack in them. Keep up the good work!!
It seems pretty obvious if you have the Amazon store link on your blog that you would get some credit for the items. The way I see it is that you DESERVE any % of what I would buy because most likely I discovered the product from you (or any blogger that has this) and in my mind you deserve the credit for that. Why should I care? I would not worry about that comment…you write a great blog and I love reading about all the fun stuff in NYC all the way over here in SF.
And congrats on the great race (and race photos)!
@carolynb~: Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I was being transparent.
Great race photos! Love your smiling one. š
AWESOME pics lady! Lucky me- I got to see the action in person š You rocked this race. So happy for you!
Amazing for you and congrats on the race! You inspire me often. Also, kudos to you for linking to the Amazon store. The internet is an amazing forum to make some money and you should never feel ashamed about it. Passive income is the best kind- more balance in your life.
Regarding disclosure, I have ads & Amazon links on my blogs & I used the website below to create a disclosure policy. It makes it pretty easy; you can choose which options are appropriate to your blog and it will generate the disclosure page for you.
Congrats on the race! I should try looking to the heavens for inspiration when racing… I need all the help I can get.
–Dave B (@BuckyKatt, though I’m not on Twitter much these days)
http://www.disclosurepolicy.org