A day late and a penny short

Yesterday, New York witnessed the 2007 NYC Marathon. Our very own Mrs. Pooks participated in this, so all of us got in the spirit of things and ventured out to indulge in a bit of jubilant cheering. I'd been telling everyone who'd listen that Mrs. Pooks was running in the marathon. Mostly I think because it made me feel more famous and important to know someone who actually ran in the marathon.

And we might as well clutch at as much vicarious glory as we can.

Because it's not something we could do ourselves, this running thing. I mean, the other day Delta and I just walked ten blocks and we had to head back home and take a nap.

So instead we nominated ourselves as the chief photographers for Mrs. Pooks' crowning moments. For since we bought our new SLR, Delta and I have been quite fancying ourselves as new generation photographers, running all over the city with the camera hanging around our necks, trying to capture forever those artistic glimpses of normal life (most of them quite blurrily, but this is just the beginning stages yet).

"Taking photos of Mrs. Pooks running is different, it's hard to get action shots," I pointed out to Delta the day before the marathon.
"Well we can't afford to mess up with Mrs. Pooks," Delta responded, "so we better spend today practicing action shots!"
"Good idea," I agreed, "now all we need is a moving target to practice photographing."
"Well, why don't you keep running rounds around the apartment and I'll take pictures of you," Delta suggested.

Yes, he seriously suggested that I run in circles around the apartment so that he would have a moving target to click at.

Obviously, I was rather nonplussed. Instead, we ended up going to the ice rink to take pictures of ice skaters, a decidedly more positive result as you can imagine. So after an afternoon of practice, we felt adequately equipped to film Mrs. Pooks as she ran past us in the marathon.

So yesterday we headed over to 60th and 1st where we could watch the thousands of marathoners enter the city. We beat our way through the crowds of onlookers to find ourselves a niche spot ideal for capturing the perfect picture. And we crossed our fingers and wished and hoped for the sun to stay out and maintain the perfectly diffused lighting it was casting over the city. And we held our camera aloft and clicked away at everything moving, just incase it turned out to be Mrs. Pooks.

And then we turned around, to speak to Davis, Gus and Kate, and all caught up in the conversation for a couple of minutes, and suddenly realised (too late as usual) in that moment, Mrs. Pooks had passed us by.