Local Runner Unnerved to Get 'Official Race Photos' 1 Week After Virtual Marathon
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istockphoto.com
A man was shaken yesterday to open an email from MarathonFoto containing what it called “official photos from your race”—a virtual event that the man had run alone the previous weekend, at an unannounced time, following a course that he plotted himself.
L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies, 54, said he was confused when he first noticed the email in his in-box.
“I saw it was from MarathonFoto, so I assumed it was a generic promotional thing, maybe an offer to order photos from previous races at a discount, something like that,” he told Dumb Runner. “And then I opened it.”
What Jefferies saw, he said, shocked him.
After congratulating him on his recent marathon, the email suggested that he “commemorate (his) accomplishment” by ordering an official race photo package. Under that message were several watermarked thumbnail images of Jefferies at various points along his neighborhood course—including two apparently taken from a tree in his front yard—and a large button reading “ORDER NOW.”
Jefferies said he does not recall seeing photographers of any kind before, during, or after his run.
“Creepy,” he said. “That’s what it was.”
“I mean, how did they even know I was doing my virtual marathon that day? How did they know my route? My wife barely knew my route!”
True to form, said Jefferies, the photos made him look awful.
“I don’t know how they manage to do that,” he said. “It’s impressive, in a way.”
Jefferies said he’ll share the watermarked thumbnails on his social media accounts, because, well, they’re photos of him running and he can’t resist.
“I’ll share them,” he said. “But I won’t like it.”
