2007.12.17
Behind the scenes of "Running on empty"
Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in our recent multimedia story titled, "Running on empty." Below is a brief account on what the production schedule consisted of and how this story came together.
As a newcomer to the area several months ago, I was particularly interested in learning about local running clubs. Within minutes, the Hellgate race kept appearing within my search results. Who does this kind of thing? What does it take mentally to run 67 miles in the woods at night? Without even realizing it, my personal inquiry took a backseat as I became transfixed with the race details and knew that I had to tell their story. After looking through the race results, I noticed that only one woman, Rebekah Trittipoe, had finished the race three of the past four years. Why didn't she finish last year? Was she going to try again this year? As the questions kept coming, I was certain that I had to tell this story through her eyes.
Upon meeting Rebekah, I knew that she was the perfect subject to introduce our viewers to ultrarunning. As I began to document her lifestyle and training regimen, our graphics department worked on building the course and elevation graphics. I pulled in photographer Josh Meltzer to help capture Rebekah's candid moments as Seth Gitner dedicated his time to driving around and producing panoramas of the race course. With only a week to go before the race, I began bringing together the content with an intuitive navigation and easy, straight-forward design. Once the design and programming was complete, we launched a preview version of the package which allowed our audience to get to know Rebekah and learn about the course.
