Oz Mudflats

Brenda… McVinua was working as a volunteer in the “chute” near the finish line, and was impressed with the former vice-presidential candidate’s form. “She wasn’t even breathing hard. You could tell she’s an athlete. If you didn’t know better you would have thought she’d just run around the block once or twice.” – Storm Lake Pilot Tribune

Photo posted on Gretawire 04 Sept 2011

Because this photo struck some of us as odd, 184 commenters joined me in actively pouring over all the available photographs chronicling the events of 04 September 2011 in Storm Lake Iowa. This is what I (we) believe really happened at the SLRC Jump Right In & Run Half Marathon on 04 September 2011 and why.

What we know w/comments in italics:

Sarah Palin had been under scrutiny in the blogs for more than a month for her increasingly gaunt physical appearance. Rumours surfaced from an anonymous commenter at The Immoral Minority claiming to be linked to Sarah’s inner circle of loyalists and claiming that he/she had personal knowledge of Sarah being so obsessed with her weight and appearance that she was binging and purging food and taking non-prescribed diet pills. (For the purpose of this narrative, it matters not that these rumours prove true or false, only that Sarah knew the rumours were circulating. It is Sarah’s personal writer Rebecca Mansour who unwittingly outed Sarah as keeping up with the Alaska, anti-palin blogs.)

Sarah was registered to run in the SLRC race before her trip to Iowa on 02 September 2011. She was registered under her maiden name, Sarah Heath. Running in the event was not something she or Todd could have arranged at the last minute, it was scheduled in advance. How far in advance, we don’t know, but SLRC rules did not allow for impromptu entries. This provided ample opportunity to survey the course and grounds.

Sarah and Todd stayed at the Kings Pointe Hotel (see yellow #1 in the map below) the night before. They would not have needed to check out until after the race, meaning they would have had access to the room during the race.

Todd picked up her running packet early. Sarah would not join the other runners until closer to the 7:30am race time, but we know she was recognised as a gentleman identifying himself as Teledude later wrote on his pro-palin blog that his wife, a participant in the race, recognised Sarah at 7am and called him from the course on her cell to urge him to drive out to get a glimpse of Sarah and Todd. He was instructed to not say anything to others as Sarah didn’t want it known she was there. The race was personal she’d purportedly whispered to the woman, thus assuring her silence.

Three races were run simultaneously that day. The half marathon, a half marathon relay and a 5k run/walk. The half marathon runners lined up on one side of a grassy meridian while the 5k runners/walkers lined up on the other side. All the races began at the same time, the centre meridian dividing the half marathon racers from the 5k racers for several metres.

Hours after the end of the Jump Right In & Run half marathon race, after winners had been determined and medals handed out, the photo at the top of this post was published on Gretawire, a blog belonging to Greta Van Susteran of Fox News Channel and offered as a news release that Sarah Palin had in fact, earlier in the day, run in the SLRC race and even took second place in her age group. It was noted that Sarah had fooled everyone by registering under her maiden name (Sarah Heath) and not even the race officials recognised her until after she crossed the finish line. Her official time of 1:46 (13 consecutive 8 min miles) would be published the following day in the official .pdf results posted on the SLRC website.

On Monday this photo emerged of Sarah walking across the finish line

The red jumper and white headband were gone. For five days these would be the only photos posted anywhere online showing Sarah as an active participant of the race. Privately taken photos of Sarah and Todd after the race (the 2nd place medal strangely looped over her arm) showing Sarah posing with race organisers and participants surfaced by Monday night on the flickr account of one of the organisers. By now Teledude had posted his one photo of Sarah standing with him and his wife with the chute in the background.

The official photographs posted for view and sale on the SLRC website appeared five days later. There were two photos taken of Sarah placing her, in both shots, with the 5k pack, and both appear to have been taken at the beginning and early leg of the race. There are no photos of her at any of the water stops or anywhere else along the route even though there was more than one official photographer taking photos that day, that the number of registered runners was relatively small and that most other runners can be found in multiple photos, throughout the entire half marathon course.

There are photos taken that show Todd behind the finish line, beside the chute. He’s holding a rolled-up bright red fabric, the same colour as Sarah’s red jumper. It was reported that Todd ran interference, hurrying Sarah through the candid photos taken after the race with other runners and locals, ostensibly to get her aboard an awaiting plane.

This is the (7 mile long) map showing all three race courses:

What we think we know w/comments in italics:

I (we) believe the initial photo posted on Gretawire is a composite of different photos taken by Todd at the beginning of the race and emailed directly to someone in the Palin camp to be merged into a single image showing Sarah pulling away from the back of the 5k pack, presumably to show her darting ahead and join the other half marathon runners. Todd was seen, recognised and spoken to in the starting area of the race and he could have stood in one spot and clicked different views of the 5/k runners as they went by. (No one ever stepped forward to claim photo rights to the only photo shown round the world of the famous Sarah Palin running a 13 mile race – and no exif info was ever retrieved from the image.)

On the map above, the half marathon course is shown in blue, the relay in dark red and the 5k in bright red. Sarah could easily have stayed on the 5k course, unnoticed, wearing the red jumper and wide headband as she bobbed in between the runners who had already seen her wearing them at the start. She could have ducked into the toilet (green T near yellow #3) and removed her visor, headband, numbered bib and red jumper, waited for Todd, strolled back to the hotel or blended in with other bystanders, confidant that none of the 5k runners or walkers or any passers-by would have taken any notice of her without the identifiable running togs.

She might have even stuck it out long enough to run the first half of the 5k course, ducking into the hotel as she passed by the parking lot.

I’ve not said this before because it sounds so James Bond-ish it’s almost embarrassing – on the other hand, this is Sarah, for whom nothing is too outrageous, so forgive the slight melodrama but here’s a thought… It is possible the wide headband had a purpose. The compression-bandage sized width and thickness would have covered and held in place a Bluetooth earpiece by which Todd could have helped her leave the course without being seen. Sarah could have let him know when she was approaching a pre-arranged spot and waited for him to tell her no one was looking. An earpiece – admittedly a far-fetched idea on my part- would allow any number of scenarios, each rife with an opportunity to cheat.

But even without fancy gadgetry, Todd and Sarah had ample time the night before to walk the track and make a plan. They had plenty of time to select areas that would seem convenient to slip out of and back into the race. If they didn’t communicate via electronics, Todd could have planned to meet Sarah at a predetermined point. He could have given her his big blue jacket and shielded her from sight until it was time to walk back to a point near the end of the race where she could just slip back in. No longer in the red jumper and headband, no one would have paid any attention. Todd could have dumped water on her shoulders to hide the fact she wasn’t over-heated and sweating. Then Sarah could have run a short distance to clock-in at the finish line in just under two hours – exactly one-half the time of her record run back in ’05 for exactly one-half the distance.

According to the article in the Storm Lake Pilot Tribune linked above: Sarah reportedly said “Boy that was fun!” as she crossed the finish line. And according to their eye-witness, Brenda McVinua, she wasn’t even out of breath.

Wow. What a great image for a mother of five and White House aspirant!

Food for thought: If Sarah’s record-breaking run in a 2005 marathon of 3:59:36 (26 consecutive 9 minute miles) was legitimate, she might have assumed she could go half the distance six years later, with little or no training. (If it wasn’t legitimate, she might have used the false time as a measure for how fast she needed to finish half the distance to appear legitimate.)

Whether she and Todd Googled half marathon schedules or called in favours, she was registered to run in the SLRC race before her trip to Iowa on the 2nd. In a small race, in a small town and registered under her maiden name her presence would not have been expected, allowing her to blend in with the other racers until she was ready to reveal her identity.

Appearing in a half marathon would conveniently dispel the rumours of Sarah being unfit physically. The irony of running a race in the month of September would certainly not be lost on her and would probably signal renewed hope and energy to those supporters she’d just disappointed less than 24 hours previously by not announcing a 2012 candidacy.

I’m sure some of you are going to make me wear the Bluetooth comment. No worries. I learned a long time ago that in order to get to one truly good idea you have to wade through about a hundred really bad ones. But before you start the head-shaking and mocking, humour me for a few seconds more. Go back and take another look at the half marathon course. While you’re looking, mull over the fact that Todd is photographed in the finish line/chute area holding the red jumper which Sarah is neither wearing nor holding as she crosses the finish line. If Sarah ran the full half marathon, how did Todd know where – in 13 miles of track over 7 miles of ground – to pick up the red jumper and headband? If they pre-arranged a pick-up, how did Sarah know – before the race – when she would need to take it off?

I didn’t know this before the SLRC race but according to real marathoners who commented on my early questions, runners routinely use disposable clothing specifically so they can pitch layers as they warm up and not worry about losing items of value. Why didn’t Sarah just toss her red jumper? She’s a millionaire after all. She could have tossed her jumper and bought a dozen more in the hotel gift shop an hour later.

And why was Todd holding the jumper, all bunched up in a wad to begin with? Why would he walk around with this in his hands for 30 minutes to an hour – or more? Why not just put it in their room or leave it in the car? Either would have been conveniently close by. It crossed my mind that perhaps Sarah didn’t toss the red jumper during the race because if she’s not a real runner – like me – she might not have known that’s what other runners do. It’s more likely that in an effort to fake participation, she would have deliberately given Todd her jumper to purposefully hold onto the ten or fifteen minutes before re-entering the race so no one would question where it went….

Running With Sarah: Did she or didn’t she? (Summary Part 3 to follow)

[Back to Summary Part 1]

I have to run… Sweat is my sanity. A great frustration I had during the campaign was when the McCain staff wouldn’t carve out time for me to go for a run. The days never went as well if I couldn’t get out there and sweat. – Sarah Palin  Runners World Aug 2009

It’s a bit back to front I admit, but after the dust settled on the week-long photo-opsy of the Gretawire picture and while putting together a summary of sorts to close the book on the subject, yet another puzzling observation surfaced, this time popping out at me from *a comment previously overlooked in my endeavour to deal with just the photographic evidence on hand. But I believe the train of thought evoked by this comment belongs at the front of this piece rather than at the end as it speaks directly to the validity of Sarah Palin’s public record as a runner, and I think it would benefit anyone reading the summary to be aware of these facts – and they are documented facts – while digging through the preponderance of anomalies discovered in photographs the Palins offered as proof positive that Sarah earned her silver medal at the Storm Lake Running Club on 04 September 2011.

For the record – there is no public record of Sarah Palin being an avid, dedicated runner capable of setting records and winning top medals.

Among Alaskans, Sarah’s name is associated with a marathon remembered as Running with the Devil but the remembered date varies between 2001 and 2003. I’ve performed searches on archived run results from 2000 to 2004 and neither her married nor maiden name appears in official results of archive searches associated with this event.

The name Sarah Palin surfaces in running circles for the first time in the 2nd Annual Curtis C. Menard II Memorial 5k/10k run in 2003 held in Wasilla AK. Sarah ran with Todd, Bristol and Willow in the 5k run.

Their recorded ages and times were:

Sarah Palin, 39, 23:50.30
Bristol Palin, 12, 39:19:40
Willow Palin, 8, 43:53:30
Todd Palin, 38, 55:28:50

Sarah’s name next appears in 2005 where her recorded time of 3:59.36 set a record in the Humpy’s Marathon. There is no public record of her training for this race, nor have any anecdotes of her training in private ever emerged (that we can find) in Alaska newspapers (not even in Wasilla where she had been mayor for several years).

In 2009 Sarah publicly announced her intent to run in two separate charity events, both of which she exited in the early laps claiming both times the press she’d attracted threatened to ruin the integrity of the race for the other runners. (It’s fair to note that both of these charity runs would have been photographed anyway, with or without her presence.)

Save a single episode in high school where her participation in a basketball game earned her the nickname Sarah the Barracuda, no college, university, high school, private gymnasium, community sports club or local joggers ever came forward during the 2008 campaign with photos or anecdotes of Sarah as an athlete, much less a dedicated, top-notch runner. Surely the McCain campaign would have jumped at the chance to pony up such a story…

Other than these four events (a 5k run in 2003, marathon in 2005 and two incomplete charity runs in 2009) there are no photo-based stories backing her (many) claims of being a serious runner who for her entire adult life has run “at least 3 miles” per day (whenever she can). She has, however, been paid handsomely for more than one photo op-ed which touts her as such.

To maintain a body so disciplined one can – on a moment’s notice – step into a race without the usual physical preparation, even 15 and 20 years after high school, and after having birthed 4 or 5 children to set record times and rake in top medals – one must surely be a profoundly superior athlete. But those of us who have followed Sarah for the past three years just find this explanation – odd.

And if that thought isn‘t curious enough on its own, some of us also find it odd that there is no documentation of Sarah’s lifelong journey as an avid runner. None. No team photos from her days in college, no community runs organised as mayor of Wasilla or even as governor of Alaska. In Sarah’s own words I have to run… Sweat is my sanity.

This is the age of IPOD. Where’s the candid footage of Sarah doing all this running?

Raw talent only goes so far. Athletes who excel in their sport make certain commitments to train, practice and participate in local, state and national events. There is evidence Sarah Palin may indeed have the raw talent but there’s not one shred of evidence she’s made the commitment or puts in the time necessary to turn that talent into record-breaking, medal-winning athletics.

Not without cheating.

*From AKShutterbug (whose comment below made us look beyond one race and into the entire history of Sarah Palin the runner. I have not been able to confirm the validity of this comment – but after looking through Sarah’s sparsely documented public record I have no reason to doubt it.)

 “Actually she faked the run in ’05 too. A few years ago when I was looking into the “Humpy’s” race in Anchorage she supposedly ran, I noticed something very interesting in the results. A very good friend of mine (who has been running marathons for years and spends a tremendous amount of time training) was listed as having finished one spot ahead of her. So I called her up and asked her if she knew that she had finished just ahead of Sarah Palin and her response to me was just laughter. She said that Sarah was never in that race.

 Sarah has some weird obsession with making people think she is a runner. When she came here to Valdez in ’07 to announce what that years PFD was going to be, Sarah stepped off the plane with spandex and running shoes on. Her handlers kept insisting that she wanted to go running with our HS cross county team but it was only 10am and the kids were in school. Her handlers kept berating the Mayor until he finally called the school and managed to get most of the team excused from 8th period so she could go “running” with them. They all met out on the track, Sarah posed for a few pictures with them and then left. She didn’t lift a shoe and after making everyone jump through hoops for her, it ended up being nothing more than another photo op. She’s a complete and total fraud”

[To Summary Part 2]

(had to…)

In any normal California bar/lounge/restaurant that serves alcohol, Bristol Palin would never have gotten out of the bullpen without a club bouncer jumping between her and the drunk heckler, another standing in the heckler’s face holding him at least by the arm and a waitress poised to dial 911 on her cell. You might even have witnessed a bartender or two jumping over the bar to make sure the heckler got nowhere near any female patron.

The employees of places that serve alcohol are very protective of their female clientele. If women don’t feel safe in your club they don’t return. Without the women, the men who spend money don’t come back.  All in all, it’s pretty bad for business if a club doesn’t go the distance to keep their female customers out of harm’s way.

If that’s not enough to convince you the Bristol/Heckler scene was a put-on, try this: California liability laws are tough. Clubs/restaurants literally cannot afford the legal trouble caused by a single bar fight. Any physical confrontation is a potential lawsuit. The owners of this club would have sacked their bouncers for not running interference. It’s why they’re there – to stop trouble before it happens.

No male employee in any club I ever worked for in California would have ever allowed Bristol to get in the face of a man so drunk he screamed YOUR MOTHER’S A WHORE loud enough to be heard across the room. The guy would have been led out the door by at least two big bruisers before she’d had a chance to get up off the floor.

Put your penis away Bristol – we all know it’s fake. No need to keep waving it around…

[Click following images to enlarge then use view/zoom or [ctrl+] to enlarge more]

Palin, Red Bandana Guy and Beard Dude seem to be almost in the same horizontal row of runners.

So – why were there not more of these runners in the Gretawire photo?

Also too and… note the style of curb on the meridian. This is the same meridian that is the backdrop for the Gretawire photo and yet – in that photo the curb changes from  beveled to dirt edge to squared to beveled – purportedly on this same stretch of center raised meridian in a distance of what appears to be no more than two or three metres.

And now that Irishgirl has pointed out where Red Bandana Guy and Beard Dude are in relation to Palin in this early leg of the race it humbles me to see how agile Red Bandana Guy must be to have literally run sideways in order to leave the middle of the pack to get into this shot with Our Lady of The Divine Sneakers.

Don’t forget boys and girls – This photo had to be taken first – because it shows Sarah just as she pulls ahead of the little old lady walkers – which means not only does it look like Red Bandana Guy had to suddenly run sideways, but also too backwards just a skootch… and I’m guessing a time machine was somehow involved.

Mr. Sulu – get us out of here! Warp Speed!

================== Update! ==================

Thought I’d shift this from comments as it may be that others also too had difficulty understanding the significance of these photos or seeing what Irishgirl saw in them:

I’m coming up to the finish line on the summary – and I have to ask – is this photo of Sarah?

It certainly is the red jumper she wore in Iowa – it was posted on a right-wing blog in a blurb about Sarah having run in the SLRC half marathon in Iowa (linked to comments here by Venefica) but bears no resemblance to the Iowa course.

Comments were made about it looking like Alaska.

If anyone is able to date this I would appreciate the help thanks 🙂

While we’re waiting for the summary, this has popped into the comments:

THERE’S A RE-ENACTMENT OF THE WHOLE RACE!

(and it’s just perfect- thanks dannyg!)

[CLICK HERE] to see the re-enactment of Sarah Palin running in the SLRC half marathon 🙂

Okay I have no patience or self-discipline whatsoever. I could not concentrate on work while sitting on this so without further ado…

…meet Ponytail Girl (Maybe. See Update-2 below)

If you use your web browser view/zoom tool you’ll see that the long ponytail appearing to belong to Red Bandana Guy  isn’t long at all but that the tip is actually the rolled point of a charcoal-grey or black hoodie. The exact same colour of the hoodie worn by this young lady who also happens to be sporting a bushy ponytail of the exact same colouring of the ponytail next to Red Bandana Guy in the original photoshopped version of Running-With-Scissors-Sarah sprinting past the pack of 5k runners and about to overtake Red bandana Guy and his missing sidekick Ponytail Girl.

Whoa – did you guys hear that? A subtle pounding sound. Like a nail being driven into wood. A fencepost maybe. Or perhaps a coffin.

Summary tomorrow.

Update:

In my rush to post I failed to mention my reasoning for identifying this particular runner (#432) as our Ponytail Girl. First and foremost the hair texture, colour and thickness absolutely match the hair originally thought to belong to Red Bandana Guy. Second because on Ponytail Girl’s right shoulder is the outline of what looks to be a flat hoodie collar and in the first photo when you pump it up a couple of generations you can absolutely see two rolls indicative of the kind of rolls a cloth hood makes when it’s open and flattened on a person’s back.

The length of the ponytail didn’t (and still doesn’t) dissuade me because anyone who has long hair – especially bouffant, thick, bushy hair knows that when you run it bobs from side to side and up and down almost in a single motion. This girl is running. It is entirely probable her ponytail is bobbing up and behind her in the full face photo, giving the illusion of being shorter than it really is. It is also entirely possible that at some point she’s reached up and pulled her ponytail through the tie a second time to get it off her neck.

We’ve made similar, logical concessions for Sarah regarding her clothing and headband.

It is the colour of her hoodie coupled with the colour and boofidity (I can make up words too) that strikes me as both ponytails belonging to the same person.

Then again – I can be wrong.

What I’m not wrong about is the fact that someone was running right beside Red Bandana Guy and yet there’s not one pixel of evidence on that big open space beneath his tall torso and long legs showing even a hint of the existance of this second runner.

Re the discussion of the timing between these two photos:

All the photos I saw on the SLRC website show the pack of 5k runners/walkers beginning in the shade. Very little sunlight is coming through the trees when they start out. The questionable photo of Sarah bounding like a gazelle with a lion on her ass around the pack is also in this lesser light. The photo shows her at best one to two  Baryshnikov-esque leaps from overtaking Red Bandana Guy and Ponytail Girl. AND this has to be the earlier shot because most of the 5k walkers are still standing still in a pack.

So – if #432 is our phantom now-you-see-her-now-you-don’t runner on the other side of Red Bandana Guy – why does Sarah appear – later down the track – a good 3 meters or more behind her?

Good question.

Update2:

Have read and reread all your comments regarding Ponytail Girl and am willing to concede I may not have tagged the right runner.  Really looking at her face and the faces of the those beside her brings up yet another question however…

I am not comfortable posting this photo because they are mostly children. Use this link previously posted by VeryPolitik to access the SLRC photo page without having to log into dot photo. Make sure you are in the 2011 Jump In & Run photo album and look for image # 2478.

Sarah is still with the 5k walkers, behind the pack of 5k runners – which appear to have all children in the lead just as the end of the meridian dividing the 5k runners from the half marathon runners comes into view…

How does a runner take 2nd place in a half marathon from the back of a pack of 5k runners?

I’m totally open to a logical explanation.  I also welcome any and all help in locating the owner of (what we can now refer to as simply) Boofy Hair.

Before I show you all what some of us have found concerning Red Bandana Guy and Ponytail Girl I’d like to redirect your attention to the right foot of Red-Shirt-Runner-We-Suspect-Might-Be-Sarah in the foreground and the hooded runner we’ve come to know as Teletubby (aptly described by a commenter due to the complete lack of facial features and oval-shaped face some thought to be the shoulder of the giant runner just behind).

From the very first post on this subject commenters (I’ll have proper H/Ts for everyone in the final draft) have pointed out the odd pattern of pixels surrounding this shoe. Perhaps unnatural is the better word as there is a triangular block of pixels to the bottom left of the shoe that simply can’t be a natural byproduct of enlargement. [click image to enlarge thumbnails then use view/zoom on your web browser toolbar to enlarge even more]

Next:

The image of the faceless, black-hooded runner in aqua blue shorts and odd grey shoes next to the unnatural seam in the photo is a curiosity in itself as – like the runner we named Bunny Hop Lady – her two shoes appear to be side-by-side as if jumping in place rather than running forward. Wrap yhour head around that if you can – but that’s not the point of this slice of film.

This is:

Please note the lack of curb on either side of Teletubby.
From back to front, green lawn changes to dark soil edge to grey asphalt. On this beautifully designed, well-groomed street often used for races just like the Jump In & Run event of 04 Sept 11, with a beautifully trimmed and litter-free curb on the opposite side of the street we suddenly have no curb at all.

But wait! There’s more!

About one metre later (39 inches) we have a beautiful raised curb – shaped and squared off  just like the curb pictured on the other side of this roadway.

The lawn edge may not line up with the curb to the left but it does match the walkways in other photos.

Did our phantom photo-shopper mistakenly mix photos of runners from the two paths? Is that why there’s curbing just one meter away?

But then… just another meter further along…

…we have a rounded and concaved curb peering out between runners – right where one runner is missing an entire upper thigh and right leg. The curb itself is also making a rather odd turn on an otherwise perfectly straight street.

I admit there can be more than one style of curb along 7+ miles of road/walkways. But how many times do you see three distinct different curbs/lawn edges within only feet of each other? I’m guessing no more than 6-8 ft actually. Look at the original again:

The only two photos of Sarah Palin taken on the course by the SLRC photographer show our would-be-runner only in and at the back of the pack of 5k runners EVEN THOUGH she was registered to run the half marathon.  So unless someone attempted to shorten the distance between 3-4 shots of 3-4 different groups of runners taken at 3-4 different locations around the course in an effort to create the illusion that Sarah-I-have-the-tightest-abs-Palin at some point bolted ahead of the 5k pack to achieve her fabulous time of 1:46 and collect the winning second place medal, this photo of jumbled feet, missing limbs and mismatched curbs makes no sense at all.

My final post on this ridiculous photo tomorrow.

[click image to enlarge] – or maybe not 😛

Wasn’t going to post this for another day but since the photos are now up at Storm Lake Running Club and no one seems to be able to find Sarah anywhere but running past the 5k walkers at the starting line and once more at the finish line I thought I might risk being labeled disrespectful in order to share my discoveries.

So… once more with feeling.

[click each image to enlarge – see also view/zoom feature on browser toolbar]

This is the image that has had us all bewitched, bothered and bewildered for a week now. We’ve dissected, lightened, darkened, enhanced and flipped our way around the image until most of us have simply gone batty.

A lot of details we thought might be bogus turned out to not be so bogus in the end:  The changing size of the runner’s bib, for example, can be explained by how runners check into the finish line and have bottom strips removed for either time confirmation or receipt of participant goodies. The red shirt and white headband so prominent in this photo yet gone in the finishing line photo can be chalked up to disposable clothing. And so it goes, one by one most of my original misgivings have been satisfactorily explained away.

Wait. Not so fast there buster. Like all things Sarah,  answering one question only seems to open the door onto a dozen more.  So here is the above photo, spliced and copies laid side-by-side  for all of you good people out there with younger eyes (than mine) to help me work out which feet belong to which runner and please – where have some of these runners legs and upper bodies gone?

Let’s look at the last half first…

The Case of Too Many Shoes and Not Enough Legs:

The first bit actually hurt my head. (Insert on left, blue outline on right.) Is this a single shoe with either a big sock or leg warmer folded down to cover the entire top of the shoe? Wouldn’t it drag on the ground and possibly catch on something if it were? And if it is one shoe why is it pointing more toward the camera than the direction in which the runner is facing? I tried to duplicate this shoe angle and almost fell over in the process. It just isn’t natural.

So what if it’s more than one shoe? If that’s not a sock turned down at the ankle, then its quite possibly a second foot (insert on left, pink outline on right) – one that doesn’t seem to belong to anyone in the photo, but will cause this runner to fall flat on his face if he keeps going forward and steps on it.

Then, of course, as some of you have already pointed out this poor man’s upper thighs appear to be well – missing with no sign of a right leg upon which to balance his left leg which happens to be very committed in  a forward stride. The angle of the leg/ankle/shoe suggests it is more straight than bent but if that’s the case we should be looking at a portion of his right, upper, inner leg under his ever-so-petite buttocks instead of the curb and wheel of a bike or wheelchair. Very curious.

I apologize to the poor man whose foot I removed (yellow outline on left) to demonstrate where I thought his missing foot should be. It is, of course, entirely possible that this foot is completely hidden by the  runner-in-red-sweatband’s leg. But not all that probable for nary an inch of it to be peeking through at the crux of the other runner’s bent knee. (Wine anyone?)

The lady we’ve come to know as the bunny hop lady could be running in place, like people do when they’re warming up but what I truly find odd is out of all these people she is the only one looking straight at the camera.

Now we come to The Case of the Extra Toes (pun not my fault – my mother made us watch Perry Mason every week):

This is the image I worked on for a couple of days and I noticed in comments that more of you picked up on this while I was off trying to enhance it. Sadly, my graphics program is simply not capable of enlarging an image to 200%+ and retain its integrity. That’s a problem of a generalized usage of 72 dots per inch – you can only advance so many generations before pixelation makes it impossible to see the image. However, I did try to alter the resolution, in spite of the fact that I don’t have the equipment to do a proper job.

In this case however and even just lo0king at the lower resolution I feel there is a compelling case for the white left shoe of the tall runner peeking between the black pants legs to belong to someone else entirely.

At first glance, the toe of the white shoe appears to belong to the extended left leg of the runner in the white sweatshirt and khaki shorts, to the right and behind the red-shirted runner we politely refer to as ‘Sarah’. Upon enlarging however, there appears to be a second ‘toe’. If it is a second toe that changes everything.

If this is a pair of white shoes rather than one left white shoe and a (truly odd) shadow, then the person who owns them is standing perfectly still, completely hidden between the tall runner in white sweatshirt and khaki shorts and the red-shirted runner.

How would that even be possible? (Maybe a tall vodka tonic…)

And now we come to the observation which I was slow to find but which most of you have already nailed as The Case of the Not-so-Hidden Seam. What are the odds a natural seam in a photo would run almost the entire length, perfectly straight – not one pixel out of line? Have a really good look at the disproportions of objects on the right of the seam compared to objects on the left.

On either side of this seam I found a missing shoulder, breast, knee, leg and curb. I also found either a foot way too big for it’s owner or a leg missing it’s foot above a curb taller than the one to the left of it. There is the sole of a grey running shoe that is perfectly straight, not one curve, not one pixel length difference  between the sole, the heel, the arch… Follow this line up into the trees in the first photo and then look carefully at the black-hoodie – why is this the only image in the entire photo with no facial features whatsoever? It’s not the farthest-most image. It’s directly in the center of the camera lens. Even the tall runner further behind has a distinguishable brow line and eye sockets. Why is this runner, with the oddly-shaped leg in blue shorts and misshapen shoe, the only runner with no face at all?

Okay that’s it – scotch, neat please. And make it a double.

One final note.

The story from the Palin camp is that Todd whisked Sarah quickly off to an awaiting plane after the race – this was the official explanation as to why there was only time for a few folks to have their photos taken with Sarah once it became known she had run the race. And we’ve seen where the toilets were along the route. Where and when did she clean her face adding the fresh make-up we see here?

Because Laura Novak is absolutely correct – face and eye make-up do not survive 13 consecutive 8-minute miles.

Oh Hell, just leave the bottle…

Anyone remember when Sarah made a public fuss over how she didn’t believe Pres. Obama had fairly earned his 2009 Nobel  Peace Prize?

Back at ya babe.

============  Update  ============

Hey everyone -After having written these posts, reading all your comments and digging through SLRC photos and then hearing comments from folks like Greta Van Susteran (et al) I think I may have actually formed a theory. It starts with some remarks  made by a few commenters regarding photos of Sarah just published on the Storm Lake Running Club website and grows to this question:

If running-with-scissors-sarah got one of the top run times, besting most of the runners even those half her age, why is she seen ONLY running at the back of the pack of 5k runners/walkers?

Maybe that’s the whole point of the photo-shopped picture. Maybe Sarah actually tried to run this race but either she or Todd realized early on that she was not going to be able to complete it. They would have little to no control over the hundreds of candid and pro shots that would inevitably be published, eventually showing how far she would fall behind. But they could create a diversion…

The visual of a full sprint Sarah running around the 5k pack into the heart of the half marathon pack would take our attention off her actual placement in the race and focus on the illusion that she runs so fast she could easily pull ahead any time she wanted to not only complete the course but to subsequently win the day.

Now any photos published of her with the 5k runners is of no consequence. The photo released by Greta Van Susteran on Fox tv is now sold as proof positive Sarah ran the entire half marathon. And the frosting on the cake? The photo-that-wasn’t was strategically placed to show the public that she is physically fit and therefore capable of jumping in at the last minute to win a race and run a country.

Except, of course, that’s a lie.

(Ok, who’s hording the cheap Inglenook?)

============  Update 2  ============

H/T to CO & kat:

Take a really really good look:

wait for it…

Well? Where’s the rest of the pony-tailed runner?

…spouse and I were watching television before going to bed. Channel 10 News interrupted to say something was happening in the US but the report hadn’t been officially confirmed. The wall behind the reporter changed to a live shot of the Twin Towers and one building had smoke billowing out.

As the reporter, listening intently to his earpiece, began to tell us that apparently a plane had crashed into one of the towers a second plane flew straight into the second tower. We watched it happen just as if it had been a special effects moment in a movie. It wasn’t real. It was too outrageous to conceive of being real.

Needless to say we didn’t sleep that night as if staying connected to the television might somehow shift everything back to normal. From California to Florida I called each of my children, my mother, sister, friends – I just had hear everyone’s voice – to know everyone was okay.

A lot of Ozzies with no physical connection at all stayed awake that night. The Australian government, at that time led by Prime Minister John Howard didn’t flinch at lending support to the US or following Pres. Bush’s lead into Afghanistan to hopefully ferret out bin Laden. A lot has changed on the political landscape since that night ten years ago but horror at the events of 9/11 remains eked in all our hearts.

To those we lost on that wretched day – even if we didn’t personally know you – know you’re missed.

Have not had a chance to go through all the comments yet but I’ve skimmed and just want all of you to know I really appreciate the civil discussion between so many people with completely opposing views. That’s what debate is supposed to be all about isn’t it?

I’ve had to install a new browser – very traumatic as I hate giving up stuff to which I’ve grown accustomed – like IE – it’s like having someone else clean up your office and for days you have no clue where anything is! So please bear with me while I fumble around – however I’m hoping this will have fixed my links problem. We’re about to find out.

Way back on the post of 06 September 2011 which began this bruhaha I mentioned a blog post by a man named Teledude who stated that his wife had run in the Jump In & Run race at Storm Lake Runners , Iowa on 04 September. According to his blog on that day, people knew as early as 7am that Sarah was running in the half marathon as his wife had called him to say get out here so you can meet her!

It stands to reason that if one person knew she was there and called her husband that other people would have done the same thing.  But Teledude’s post goes on to tell the tale of how she was there incognito and nobody knew she was there until the race was over.

(If you’ve followed Sarah Palin at all since 2008, you’d know that she doesn’t do anything incognito – nor does she do anything that doesn’t pay her substantially, upstage another politician or garner free publicity. I’m pretty sure having cameras in her face is how she breathes.)

This comment went virtually unnoticed on my first post on this subject so I’m putting a screenie of it here. You can decide for yourself whether it’s genuine or not:

This remark is pretty consistent with speculations made by other runners in the comments who are leary of the two groups all in the same shot (5k walkers and half marathon runners).

Plus – after almost a full week, no other observer has come forward on any of the Pro-Palin sites to make similar claims and add similar photos. (Please note Teledude got instant recognition as his story and photo with Sarah were subsequently published in an L.A. paper – so why wouldn’t another person have coughed up their photo? Are all Republican/tea Partiers modest?)

The Storm Lake Runner’s club photos have still not been posted. However, I’ve looked back at last year’s photos of the same event and noticed that all the race images posted on their site are for sale, so maybe the photographer needs time to code and crop. My only experience with club photos is with members each submitting their candid shots and all are uploaded to a page where everyone can then browse through to find themselves – none for sale, just a form of community involvement.

I do have more to add today but software troubles have put me behind with work (the nice lady who puts money in my bank account is looking over my shoulder with a raised eyebrow – wave to the nice lady for me!)

But before I go I’d like to say something about photo-shopping:

These are Christmas cards I made some years ago. The grevillea blossoms are about ten ft over my head in the backyard. The bow and ornaments are sewn together and adorn a floral arrangement.

Photo-shopping is easy.  But to do it right and without a lot of excess pixelation takes patience and practice. So I put Sarah’s running photo to you this way:

Before the race Todd grabs a shot of Sarah (or whoever this is) running. It could have been done any time actually. At the start of the race he takes candid shots of the runners and walkers and emails them off to someone who then merges images together and submits one to Greta Van Susteran. but whoever did the photo-shop was either quite rushed or not that experienced and got a few odd details wrong.

Following the wrong line, cutting off a portion of the image, not smoothing out edges after having trimmed off too many pixels, and getting image proportions a bit off are common mistakes. Not erasing properly around a removed image (we called it cleaning in my day) will leave puddles of odd pixels that look completely different from that pixelation which occurs when an image is enlarged or enhanced.

To my eye the image of the red runner at the start of the race looks like a rushed photo-shop job by someone who wasn’t actually there and had no reason to not put the walkers, the runners and the lady in red all in the same shot.

Then again – I can be completely wrong. It can turn out to be just a really bad photo taken with a really good camera 🙂

Back later – Oz

PS. by the way I hit publish by mistake earlier -sorry if you came into this with only half the post showing …

============  Update  ============

This probably means nothing at all but… it is a head-scratcher:

A & B are almost identical except A is missing the word Jump above and to the left of the #63

C on the other hand is totally different, offering a taller #63, shorter distance between the number and the bottom of the bib and a completely different font for the lettering.

Was there more than one #63 bib? Did they have two or three different sets of bibs?

Curioser and curioser.

(When my boss asks me if the next article is done I’ll say no – and it’s all FEDUP’s fault for distracting me because it was checking that thing that made me notice the bibs 🙂

The things pounded home in both Geoffrey Dunn’s book The Lies of Sarah Palin and Frank Bailey’s book Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin are simple.

1. It’s easier for Sarah to lie than it is to tell the truth.
2. No lie is too outrageous.
3. Her preoccupation with her public image will be her downfall.

[Click image to enlarge]

Over the past few days I have zealously instigated and contributed to an almost forensic examination of Sarah’s claim to being not just a runner – but a runner so amazingly skilled she didn’t need to prepare her body for a hearty race the way other athletes and runners would need to prepare. Sarah (who hasn’t had a recorded, successful run since 2005) had no need for special muscle-building diets or daily training on outdoor courses. She didn’t need a routine of going to bed early during the week before to guarantee she’d be rested and fresh for the September 4 event. She didn’t need a regime of daily exercises and leg stretches to tone her 47 year old muscles and tendons.

And sans all the preparation routinely performed by other runners, Sarah leisurely walked across the finish line, claimed completion of the 13.1 mile race in 1 hour and 46 minutes,(besting, by the way, all the runners – half her age) and snagged herself a second place medal.

Show me all the photographic evidence you like – I will not believe Sarah actually ran 13 consecutive miles at a time of 8 minutes each without stopping or cheating or somehow rorting the system. My gut is with those who say the course was around a lake – the pack broke up and people ran alone – all too easy to run a mile then slip off to the side and not re-enter until an appropriate appearance was called for – and then again towards the end. At best, I would concede she ran half the distance. Maybe. If forced.

No lie is too outrageous.

One month ago Sarah Palin faked a visit to a Kentucky museum. (Correction: Kansas WWI museum.) And she might have gotten away with it except a local newspaper outed her.

Two months ago she faked a family vacation. We know this because her youngest daughter Piper outed her.

Two years ago Sarah claimed the new healthcare proposal presented by the Obama Administration to guarantee no child would ever be denied health insurance due to a pre-existing ailment was based on death panels and people should be afraid. By the time she was called out – too many people already believed her and the new plan was picked apart like vultures had descended on a corpse.

No lie is too outrageous.

I began my post a couple of days back by saying I didn’t give a crap if Sarah ran this race or not. I still don’t. What I do care about is if she didn’t run this race, somebody needs to call her on it.

This is a woman who because of her image alone influences the way some American voters think and feel and spend their money. If her image is bogus – those people deserve to know.

This is a woman who projects herself as a representative of the American people then steps onto foreign soil and tells the world our president is a terrorist with terrorist ties.

And she’s about to take her Obama is a louse circus act to South Korea.

To those who think this photography-sleuthing of the Storm Lake Half Marathon was all just a silly, childish exercise I might remind you that had there been a few more outrageous souls in the Alaska press when Sarah first announced her amazing 2 month pregnancy, there may have been more photographic evidence saved, fewer computers and MySpace accounts scrubbed and more people in the know willing to come forward with the truth. It would have saved us all a horrendous headache.

So from now on no matter how trivial, we seriously need to hold every photo, every speech, every claim made by Sarah up to a light and say hey, does that look right to you? and not be afraid to be wrong . Otherwise we’ll never find the truth.

At the very least, if Sarah didn’t honestly run this race someone was cheated out of a medal they’d earned. Someone’s daughter, mother or wife. It may have been the very key to lifting this person’s level of confidence. It may have been the boost someone needed to jump an emotional hurdle.

Sarah – I hope you won this medal honestly. I do. You’ve just never given me a single reason to believe you.

======================== UPDATE ========================

Ok I know many of you are thinking Crapola woman nOw what! Well you’re not alone. The voices in my head are pretty much on the same rant – (only some of them are off-key and it’s really annoying) but here’s the thing.

See that haloed image above? The one of the first photo presented on foX as living proof Sarah was in the race? Something is still inherently wrong with that photo. In the previous posts we’ve talked about the raised sleeve, the missing word jump (which should have been visible ahead of the number 63) and the floating, pixelated feet. We’ve covered how nobody seems to see her coming, not even the woman she’s apparently about to run into when she trips over the curb she doesn’t seem to see… we’ve solved the issues of the crazy shoes and disposable clothing. But.  Something.

So when I went looking for a graphic to post here (because now a post without a graphic just seems – naked) I found myself playing with all my enhancing gadgets and liked the haloed neon effect given above – so there ya go. Graphic selected and post finished.

I grab a sandwich because I haven’t eaten all day, bring it back to my desk and start to close down my graphic program. On closing, one of the images grows really big because I’ve leaned on the enlarge tool by mistake and oh my good gosh look what stares me right  in the face!

You guys see the same thing I do?

How does a woman at least two feet behind and three feet to the left manage to get her foot OVER the image of Sarah’s bum? The pair of running pants Sarah is wearing are clearly, heavily outlined all the way around her legs and torso – but not so at the point of this woman’s shoe.

I removed the neon and enhanced it again, this time using the lead pencil tool. This does not distort an image. It makes objects sharper but does not change their shape or position in a photo. Look:

(This one you’ll need to click to enlarge)

That has got to be a sign it was photoshopped no? The runner number cloth is also now clearly cut into the bottom of the sleeve (as one commenter mentioned) and over the bottom hem in front of the red shirt that I mentioned and umm got scolded at for (pfft! Like I’ve never been scolded before…)

I just can’t seem to lose the word bogus when I look at these photos. And honestly, I really don’t mind being wrong about something – I just really hate feeling like someone’s out there thinking I’m so stupid they could pull this kind of shill and I wouldn’t notice.

Ok I’m ready… let the bashing begin!

I may have gotten some details wrong in my assessment of Sarah Palin’s marathon photos in yesterday’s post, but I was happy to add the corrections that could be proven. And I appreciated all the comments by all the commenters, even those who adamantly disagreed with me or thought my post would make things worse for our cause.

Two things – nobody who matters in the media is paying the slightest bit of attention to our cause. I hardly see how anything we  do out here can make that worse. And for the record, energetic discussion and accidental discovery is good for the soul even if not everyone agrees with us or what we find is not what we were originally looking for. At least some of us aren’t afraid to keep looking (/Oz winks at Gryphen) even if the only thing we find is that we were wrong  (/Oz winks at Mel)

Next – for those who keep saying it doesn’t matter if Sarah ran this marathon or not – I beg to differ. It most certainly does matter. Sarah accepted the second place medal. If she didn’t genuinely earn it, she’s stolen it from the runner who did.  Athletes have medals stripped from them for cheating and reporters go out of their way to get the stories. Usually, anyway.

I’ve only known Sarah to run in two other races during the past three years. Each time there were cameras along the routes and in each she found a way to not complete them. Weird for such an avid runner huh?

And I don’t know about any of you but I find it terribly odd that there are no photos of Sarah during this race – only a single photo at the start, again at the end – and both seem odd in and of themselves. (Just like the photos during her faked pregnancy with Trig.)

But here’s a thought – Sarah’s entrance into the half-marathon is being reported as the concept of her PR group. To not have set up staff or fan-based volunteers with cell phones taking action shots of her along the route is just crazy. Those shots would have been money in the bank and votes at the ballot box. If you were her PR man how would you have set this up for maximum return?

But hey anything’s possible right?  So… not to keep beating the poor dead horse here but…

These are the top running times as posted by the Storm Lake Running Club for the Jump In & Run half-marathon, 04. Sept 2011:

(Please Note: I freely admit to not having permission to use the shot of runner #43 below and would be happy to reasonably compensate the owner.)

This is a photo of the woman posted online as the winner of the race overall – alongside Sarah who took second in her class:

[click images to enlarge]

If someone would be so kind as to demonstrate to me how the earth could possibly have rotated around the sun fast enough to create this humongous difference between the shadows of the first place runner crossing the finish line and Sarah crossing the same finish line exactly 8 minutes later without tossing some of us off the planet entirely- I’m certainly willing to listen.

Hmm… the earth suddenly rotating too fast would definitely explain where all the flags went 🙂

(editor’s note:  Yes, I originally said 12 minutes – serves me right for trying to do basic math before 6 am!)

Sarah-

So a couple of photos proving you ran in the half marathon at Storm Lake Iowa on 04 September have flittered about the blogosphere. One made some of us shake our heads, quite sure it had been photoshopped. One made us go oops she really did run it huh?

And I must be painfully honest with you Sarah, I really don’t give a crap whether you did or didn’t, do or don’t run at all. I’m quite sure you ran as a young woman and that you enjoyed it and even possibly used running to trim down after each of your pregnancies. (I was a dancer. I danced away all the pregnancy fat after each of mine.) I don’t, however, believe for a second that you run every day now because you’re Sarah Palin. Cameras follow you everywhere you go and not one inch of celluloid showing you running on a remote road (other than those pre-planned runs for photoshoots) has surfaced in almost three years.

And I would be quite happy to drop the whole issue except for this nagging feeling in my gut – and a closer look at the photos proffered as evidence of your almost 2 hour run on 04 September 2011.

Let’s look at them together shall we?

Well I must admit these certianly do look like beginning and ending shots of a runner. Wait. What the… Huh?

Can we zoom in a bit please? Aww thanks…

[click each image to enlarge]

Well sure, I suppose at some point during the 1.46 race time the weather shifted and you shed some layers – like the headband and top red shirt. No worries. I also guess that it’s possible the grey collar is just the top band of your tee-shirt pulled up for some reason. Ok. I’m fine with that. But umm…

Why is the sleeve on a shirt that visually only comes to your waist so giant-like huge? It’s literally two or three sizes bigger than your arm and is so long it covers your hand completely. Ok maybe you grabbed someone else’s red shirt and it just doesn’t fit. But then why roll up the hem? Hmmm…

And doesn’t this picture show the race number as being attached to the top of the red shirt in the front? If it is, how on earth did you manage to slip it off during the race? Lifting it over your head would have pulled the grey tee with it no?

And where did the word Jump disappear to? It should be partially visible above the number 6. Shadows? Wait – no shadows… it’s 7:30 am and overcast.

Uh-oh – looks like you bumped into some wet paint and stained your nice black pants. What a shame!. They look great on you!

But wait a minute… how did the paint stain shift from one leg to the other during the race? (Update: According to comments, there’s a white smudge on both legs  – but even blown up I can’t find it. I am, however, willing to concede to younger eyes than mine!) (H/T to Andrea)

Surely you didn’t stop during the race and take them off and then put them back on back to front did you? No wait that wouldn’t work. If you’d put them on backwards the paint stain would shift to the back of your leg. Well that’s certainly a head-scratcher!

Ok Sarah now I know you’re just messing with us. Where (during the race) did you get the snazzy timing gear? Doesn’t that type have a wire that runs up your arm, through your sleeve, down your back to come out and then run down to your shoe? Did you attach this when you took off the red shirt and white headband?  UPDATE: Correction – that thing that looks like a cable is in fact a sidewalk crack – what a terrific illusion! (H/T the problem child)

And if you did this during the race, how would it give you an accurate time at the end?

You’re really a Houdini at heart aren’t you!

Now Sarah, I know you hate science but…

…did you know one can tell the time of day a photo was taken by the shadow the images cast?  You need to know the city and state, the height of the image and the ratio between the shadow and the image height.

Well Sarah, according to Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness, someone your size between 9:30 and 10am on 04, Sept 2011, at Storm lake Iowa would have cast a shadow 12 inches (or more) longer than the one you seem to be casting here. The length of your shadow actually seems to more accurately portray a photo taken at either 11am or 1pm. Of course – I can be wrong but still…

And I guess I’m also a bit befuddled at the whole lack of people in this second photo. I’m sure you have a reasonable explanation but really Sarah… where are all the folks who drove, flew, trained, biked and bussed themselves in to see you at this shindig? One would think that fans willing to spend several hours on freezing nights in shopping mall parking lots just to get a glimpse of you and a signed copy of your book would surely be patient enough to wait one hour and forty-six minutes for you to run a race and be there at the finish line to cheer you on?

But there’s no one. Just the nice man waving you across the finish line. That is what he’s doing with his arms, right? Waving you over the line? Well no, that would be silly because you’re just walking calmly checking your time. He would surely have relaxed his arms by now, wouldn’t he?

Especially since you’re checking your time against a device you only wore in part during the race? Hmm…

Ok Sarah I’m signing off now. Can’t wait to hear all the explanations come out of the woodwork. You need to know though Sarah, that if you actually did run the whole race and in one hour and forty-six minutes, that these badly staged, after-thought photos injected to ensure we all see what you want us to see rather than just showing us the naked truth from the beginning are just the kind of thing that make most of us disbelieve you in the end.

When I see video footage of you running through an entire race, then I will happily concede. Until then – for me – this was just another phoney image you dreamed up to give yourself a legitimacy you didn’t earn just to fill your wallet.

-OzMud

PS – Don’t know how I could have missed this earlier but Sarah? How can a person sweat so profusely on their neck and shoulders while staying perfectly bone dry under their arms? You continue to amaze…

… why do you keep doing it?

To be honest that was actually my first reaction to this little girl’s mother when I saw this headliner article on Yahoo. I quickly found the video at Radar Online  and I apologizse as my  links are still not working – Google this title:

Toddlers & Tiaras 4-Year-Old Competes With Fake Boobs And Butt 
(Radar Online dotcom)

Meet 4 year old Maddy Jackson –

Please be sure to see the video of her mother’s explanation.

Ok I’ve had time to cool off.

Nope. Still want to slap her. What is wrong with people?