Private investigations

I thought I'd try a bit of internet investigation to see if I could clear up what had happened to my result for the marathon.  The most suspicious thing was receiving an email link to the various photos that had been taken throughout the race - quite a lot of me plodding around the streets of New York, and even some near the finish line.  These had (I think) been taken by human beings, then tagged with my race number (what a boring job that must be - unless computers are good at reading numbers from photos now), and assigned to me.  All very well.

But there were a few photos not containing me at all.  One was of a chip mat somewhere on the course, and another was at the finish.  I think these were taken automatically, and assigned to me based on when my chip crossed the mat.  But of course, it seems that 'my chip' was not mine at all.

So, I thought, if you can search the photo database by race number, I can try and find a photo assigned to someone else which shows me crossing the line.  I reckon I crossed the line when the clock said 2:55:30-something.  But after lots of trial and error, no luck.  The best I could find was what I'm convinced is my right leg and shoulder...

(don't believe me?  Have a look at the picture in this list where the clock's showing 2:55:29!)

...but I can't think it would convince a jury.  Although if they run it through the computers they have in Spooks or in the Bond films, I'm sure they'd be able to reconstruct the full picture of me (and probably tell who my known associates were and what I had for breakfast).

So I gave up on that approach.  I don't think there is a picture of me at the finish line.  There probably would be if I'd have crossed the line right in the middle of the arch, but I think I was all the way over to one side, so I'm probably out of shot.

But what's this?  Tash texted me this morning to tell me that the results on the website have changed - and now they have me down as 2:54:52!  Well, that's enough to put a smile on even my face... until my conscience takes over.  It's more accurate, certainly: it's probably now correct to within 10 seconds, rather than 5 minutes.  And the split times look a lot more like my race (not the nice even but slow splits I was given before).  But do I think I was that fast?  Well, not quite.  But would I have accepted the result if I thought it was wrong in the other direction?  Probably.  So I think I'll leave this alone now.