• And the solution •
[2 MIN READ]
Stacey is at the heart of a conundrum. After a particular absence by me from one week’s run—during which she took the requisite attendance photo—I learned that she doesn’t like them anyway. To accommodate her dislike, I suggested upon my return that she take the photo, that way she didn’t have to be in it and I could just paste her in (the way I usually do when an attendee arrives too late to participate). That ‘she doesn’t like them’ turned out to be a misrepresentation, something I learned as I made my suggestion for her to take the picture with the explanation of why.
It helps to understand that when I take the weekly photo, I tend to do it a particular way. Actually, I tend to do it one of a few different ways, all requiring a certain amount of effort to execute. It turns out that the effort and time is what Stacey doesn’t like. The conundrum is me liking to expend the energy and her disliking the time it takes: She really wants just to get running.
Very much to Stacey’s credit, though, is the solution that she offered when she took the photo. The solution was to take last week’s photos. Rather than wait for everyone to get close together to pose, she just ‘snapped’ pictures of them where they were, including herself.
Prescript: The Attendance Photo
Her solution took advantage of a few facts that she’s come to understand very well over the time she’s been running with the group. The first is embraced by the well-known club phrase “One and done.” Stacey knows that the purpose of the attendance photo is to take attendance. Any given week’s picture will be better or worse than another. Collectively, it doesn’t really matter how good any one is. The second fact is that, as the editor of the weekly run message, I’m amused by the process of pasting in-absentia runners in to create one picture. Her solution has the added of benefit of expeditiousness: As the group has grown, it takes proportionally more time to get everyone posing. So, I appreciate her for her execution. I can even learn from it.
(L-R: J’Adam, Grace [behind], Lynette, Train Dave, T’Adam, CtCloser, Jason, Stacey, Thaddeus, Sylvia, Jim, Jackie, Scott. Photo credit: Stacey Main)
Here’s something else I learned about Stacey: As a matter of principle, she refuses to click on the “Read more” in the run message (Facebook post and email) to read this here Cerebrun feature. So, she knows only that I think she’s at the heart of a conundrum. She doesn’t know that I appreciate her solution. That is a different conundrum.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Likeness used with permission. ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2025’05’14’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption.
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