Jen in Real Life: The Ugly Race Day Pics

So you train for a race, you complete it, and you feel like a badass. Then you get an email with a link to race pictures. "Ooooo," you think, "I'm sure these pictures will express my badassness in the best way ever! New Facebook profile picture! Yesssssss!"

Or not.

These pictures are almost always extremely unattractive. You don't know there is a camera because you're concentrating so hard on the task at hand that you don't make sure your good side is showing. You're caught sweaty, red (not flushed and glowing-- red), and real. You don't look like a featured athlete in Women's Health Magazine because you don't live in a world where everyone wears Photoshop glasses. You're real. In honor of being real, today I'm going to expose the most unattractive pictures of myself ever: The Ugly Race Day Pics. Let's discuss the positives and negatives, shall we?

Exhibit One: The Swim, where I learned that it's okay to have candid pictures taken while in a swimsuit.

I don't let people take pictures of me in a swimsuit unless I am sucking in my gut, my hair is down, and said hair is sexily tousled. I think these swimsuit pics look even better when I have an umbrella drink in my hand. Even though I was mortified to see these swimsuit pictures, I was happy to see that now that I am 30 pounds lighter I no longer have the gigantic gut I used to have! Score! I look better and my back feels better because I'm not carrying around so much weight!

The arm-gut-cover.

When I'm heavy I wear loose dresses and put my arm over my gut to hide it. I am not comfortable in my skin when I'm carrying extra weight. I am not embarrassed about these swimsuit pictures from the triathlon because I ran out of the water arm-gut-cover free! :)

Exhibit Two: The Bike, where I find out I am a mouth-breather.
Does anyone remember the cartoon "Hey, Arnold!"? There is a character named Brainy who is always mouth-breathing behind Helga:

 These biking pictures made me think of Brainy because I am definitely a mouth-breathing athlete.

Mouth-breathing side profile.

A nice pic, but I'm mouth-breathing again and I don't think I have very good form at all!  I don't think you are supposed to ride a road bike with straight arms. Oops.

Annnnnnnnnd... mouth-breathing with straight arms again!

I know, we work hard when we work out and of course we breathe through our mouths. It's just funny to see it in action!

Can a cyclist out there give me any feedback on my form? Is it okay to have such straight arms? I really need to brush up my biking skills since this is the hardest part of the tri for me.

Exhibit Three: The Run, where I decide that I shouldn't wear sport caps and I need a race belt.

The purple race cap is not a good look for me. I look weird. I have to find another way to protect my dark head from the heat of the sun.

The answer to mouth-breathing: Smile the whole time. It doesn't look as creepy.

There are many issues going on with this pic. I was SO HOT but I couldn't take off my shirt because my race bib was on it. Also, my hands are out of control. This is the most unflattering picture ever!

There you have it! I'm exposing my ugly(ish) race day pics to you because I don't care if I'm airbrushed or not. I now consider myself an athlete and I'm kind of excited to see how the next set of Ugly Race Day Pics is going to look.

What do you think about race day pics? Love them? Hate them? Indifferent?