My wife and I love to go camping. We planned a trip to camp in the mountains of Vermont this summer. We ended up choosing a campground near Killington, Vermont. Out of pure coincidence it turned out there was a race event happening in Killington during the same time frame that we would be camping. The Under Amour Mountain Running Series Killington, Vermont was the Saturday before we went home. I contemplated registering to run one of the races while we were on vacation but as fate would have it I would end up deciding not to race in the event for a variety of reasons and I am happy with that decision.

I have been running for a while now and as I have gotten more invested in the sport my wife has become more invested as well. I think we both are at the point where we are just as happy going to watch a running event as we are to be running in an event. I enjoy it even more when I have a camera with me. Showing up to watch the Under Armour Mountain Running Series event in Killington, Vermont with my wife, my dog, and my camera was just about as perfect of a vacation activity as it gets for me.

We arrived at the event to see the 5k runners take off as we were getting out of our car. We were in place to watch, cheer, and photograph the event in time to watch the 10k participants begin their race. We figured out where we wanted to watch the 5k runners finish from just in time to see the top two runners approaching us in a blazing fast time of 19 minutes, which we couldn’t believe after the announcer had reported that the winner from last year had finished in 30 minutes.

We watched as the 5k runners crested the hill where we were standing and turned towards the finish. We were ready just in time for me to get some ok photographs of the race leaders and then watch them to the finish line. As the 5k rnners were finishing we turned to see the lead 10k runner begin descending the mountain in the other direction from where we had positioned ourselves. We positioned ourselves at the perfect spot. It was the confluence of the 10k course and the 5k course as they approached the finish line. The 5k runners approaching up over a hill from one direction and the 10k runners decending towards us from another direction. It was a lot of action to take in. I was honestly surprised there were no incidents of a 10k runner careening down the mountain at high-speed colliding with a 5k runner who had been slowed down by their ascent merging at just the wrong time. Thankfully that scenario did not unfold before us.

After most of the 5k and 10k runners had passed us by we moved to a new location to watch the 25k and 50k runners. We had estimated how long we thought it would be until the first finishers of the 25k race would be getting done. We hiked up the trail for what turned out to be about a mile. We sat along the trail waiting for the runners to arrive. Soon enough the race leaders appeared on the trail kicking up dust behind them. We sat along the trail and cheered on the runners. Brynn, our dog barked to help encourage them. We were able to watch many of the 25k runners pass by on their way to finish the race. We stayed long enough to see some of the first finishers of the 50k race as well. Some of the runners were cruising to the finish, some of the runners were struggling. We tried to encourage them all along the way. Some of the runners we got to cheer multiple times as a few were unfortunate enough to miss a segment of the course and have to head back out on the trail to complete the areas they missed. So they got to run bonus miles.

I love watching races unfolds and capturing images of runners giving their all along the course. My photographs are no glamour shots they are photographs of runners giving their all and busting their buts. My wife is super supportive and encouraging as she cheers on the runners and I hope they get the same feeling from my presence on the course taking photographs and then again when they see the photographs from the race they just busted their ass for. Runners don’t always like seeing me out on the courese because I have a hbbit of being at some of the hardest segments of the course. Areas where they might not be at their best. Areas wher ethey might be struggling. Areas where they might feel weak. Most people think these don’t make the best photographs. I think they are the perfect photographs because it shows them concuring the hardest parts and it is proof of what they can do.

I love hearing my wife call out words of encouragement to the runners. It reminds me why I love this crazy sport so much. It’s about the people. The people who support us and cheer us, the people who are out there to watch us, the other runners we share time with on the course.

Check out my first album of photographs of several to come from the race here on Facebook at Kyle Reynolds/KRNaturalPhoto. The photographs are essentially unedited so the great the good, the blurry, and the out of focus photographs are all in there. I want them all to be available to the runners for them to enjoy.

If you like the work you see here please consider supporting me here on Patreon at KRNaturalPhoto for as little as $1 a month. Thank you.