Confused?

No, just ready for a race. Seems that my self-portraits are nothing but me with race numbers, but I kind of like doing this. Gives me something to remember for races.

Up close and personal

I've had the opportunity to go to the North Carolina Zoo three times in the past couple of years, but not until recently did I get to see the giraffes get fed. It's quite an experience.

It's just me

Back in January, I thought I might start a series of self-portraits. That obviously didn't happen. Anyway, here's a photo I took of myself last summer after picking up a race number in Lynchburg. This was actually with my Blackberry.

Window seat

My dog, who is almost 6 this year, didn't stick his head out the window for years. All of a sudden in the past year, though, he loves it. This was on the way to a park on Easter.

Blue, blue skies

You'd never know that this is in a neighborhood with houses close by unless I told you that, which I just did. Otherwise, it's kind of like getting lost in a forest.

Spring in the mountains

I ventured to the Peaks of Otter over the weekend with the family and got some photos of Sharp Top, as if I don't already have enough. It's just such a great place to go though!

A summer running memory

While I was training for my second marathon this past summer, I took quite a few photos with my Blackberry on my runs. This is one of my favorites from an early morning in July. This is the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County -- it's a very similar spot to my Mile 100 photo from April 2010.

The combination of the sun coming up behind me, coupled with the fog made for a pretty decent photo. I'm so glad I had my phone with me to capture the memory of this run.

Craving Spring?

Enough of this stuff with snow and cold weather. In looking back at my posts, there's a lot of that. While I do love it, I was suddenly craving warm weather when looking through some photos I posted over on Daily Mile.

Looking a lot like Christmas

Nothing says the Christmas season like a little bit of snow. Yeah, I know ... Christmas was more than a month ago, but what's wrong with still being in the Christmas spirit? And this photo was a spur of the moment photo as I headed to a kid's birthday party in Lynchburg, Va., the same night of the Christmas parade in downtown.

If you look close enough ...

... it's not my wife's face that you see ... but instead you'll see me in her sunglasses.

I haven't posted in a while, but I think it's time I start again. Perhaps I'll do a series of self-portraits? We'll see.

Mile 100

In April I did something great with my running -- I ran at least a mile every day, and I also ran more than 100 miles. Here's a view of where I was at mile 100.


For more on my running, visit www.runningbecauseican.com.

Another foot of snow ...

Bedford, Va., was once again slammed with a foot of snow this weekend. Forecasts were for about 6 inches or snow, perhaps a little more, but it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing ...

One final snow photo

This is the final snow photo I'll post from this snow storm. This is my son's hand after he got a little snow in it. Sometimes the simplest photos say a lot, and for some reason this photo says a lot to me. Not quite sure what, but it does ...

Elks Home under the snow

I grew up going to the Elks Home in Bedford during Christmas, but I think yesterday was the first time in my 31 years that I've gone with snow on the ground. It's a great sight -- if you're in the area go check it out while the snow is still around.

The great snow of '09: Your photos

In a bit of an experiment on Twitter and Facebook today, I've asked followers and friends if they'd like to share some of their photos with me to post on this blog. So far I've gotten two responses. Thanks to @CherylSmith999 (first photo) and @RodDempsey for sharing their snow photos from the Lynchburg area. If you have something you'd like to share, send an email to me at runningbecauseican@gmail.com. Have fun out there!

Storm of the century?

For anyone who may doubt that this isn't the storm of the century, remember that the century is only 10 years old. So as of 7 a.m. there's a foot of snow on the ground in Bedford, Va., and I'm pretty sure it's only the second time this area has seen that much snow so far in the 2000s. And to all my friends from the north, yes, I'm going to make a big deal about this. Plus it's still snowing ...

... more to come once it stops!

Snowy Peaks

Sure it's been three months since I last posted, but I'll hope you'll forgive me. There's nothing like a little snow storm to get me back in the photo-taking spirit. These were taken at the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County. While it was raining in the city, the mountains saw plenty of snow this weekend.

Nothing beats a good sunrise

This weekend I got another chance to spend a weekend at Virginia Beach for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. On Saturday I went for a short run along the boardwalk and go to see a cool site -- the sun rising to the east and a full moon setting to the west. Here's a look at the sunrise shortly after I got back to my hotel room:

Lights on I-95

Don't worry, I wasn't driving when I took these. I was just bored on a ride from Washington, D.C., back to Richmond.

Summer fun with Duke

Duke has a little bit of fun with my niece's birthday present. This dog -- who just turned 4 -- loves fast-moving water!