Carolyn Schofield/Courtesy
She had to pee. One mile down and with the two mile marker in sight, Hillsdale resident Carolyn Scholfield couldn’t make it one more step down the bike path.
“I ditched into the weeds and went,” she said. “I shake. Stand up. And there he is.”
Not only did another runner recognize what she was doing, she said, but he also pointed out there was a Porta Potty just feet down the trail.
“I didn’t win that 5K,” she said, “but surprisingly, I still came in second!”
Scholfield’s story, along with an accompanying photo, placed third in the Detroit Free Press/Talmer Bank marathon’s funny photo contest, with over 1,000 votes on Facebook. Scholfield said she still won community support, a bag of goodies, and free registration for the 2017 marathon. She will be competing in this year’s half-marathon on Oct. 17.
“The Detroit Marathon does different things to keep running fun,” Scholfield said. “They keep you involved by sending emails to keep you motivated and having little contests here and there. I saw the funny photo contest advertised, but nothing occurred to me.”
Mary Weiss, digital marketing manager at the marathon’s co-sponsor, Talmer Bank, said the contest was meant to get runners excited.
“Last year’s theme was ‘5 years running’ but we thought we would do something different this year,” she said. “We knew people love to share their funny photos, so we thought a funny photo contest would be a good idea.”
The Detroit Free Press, another co-sponsor, promoted the contest online and in print while Talmer Bank advertised it through Facebook, Weiss said.
Days before the contest deadline, Scholfield said she remembered Schmidt’s photo.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! I have a funny photo!’” she said.
Scholfield still needed a funny story to go along with it. Not only had a runner seen her using the restroom on the side of a race path once, but the same runner had seen her in the weeds during a second race.
“I always had to go at a two mile mark!” Scholfield said. “It was a mental thing. Of course, after all that, I got over my mental two mile pee!”
Scholfield had her story.
Sept. 20, she received an email from Weiss congratulating her for making it to the top 15.
The contest’s first place award included a one night stay at the Westin Hotel, located across the street from the marathon’s start and finish line; a sponsor ‘swag bag;’ a free registration for the 2017 marathon; and giftcards for New Balance; dinner, and a massage.
Contestants could share their photos and stories on Facebook and Twitter, but because Scholfield didn’t have a Twitter account she said she focused on Facebook.
People from Michigan, Texas, and Kentucky all voted for her, Scholfield said. At first she said she worried people would be annoyed to see her posts over and over again, but she said the response was amazing.
“My kids are 11 and 13, so I haven’t let them start Facebook accounts yet. But I really considered letting them sign up just for this,” she said.
Scholfield’s entry won third place with 1,100 votes, slightly fewer than the winning 1,400 votes.
What was even more motivating than the award, she said, was wanting to share it with her friend, Julie Wright, who has been preparing for the Detroit half-marathon since May.
“It was fun to watch the contest and to get everyone to see the picture and the story,” Wright said. “Now a lot of people know that we’re doing the half-marathon, so we’ll probably have a lot of people asking about it.”
Scholfield said that even though the contest didn’t turn out the way she hoped, she is still looking forward to the race.
“I just think that, like I told Julie from day one, when you run a marathon, it’s not a sprint,” Scholfield said. “It’s going to take time but it will be worth it in the end. And it’s very good to have a buddy.”
