At home in Bend, Oregon with the tools of his trade and a tiny Elvis.
Two years ago I photographed my first National Championship sporting event at the US Mountain Running Championships in Conway, NH and that was my introduction to Max King. He bested the field by over a minute to become the National Champion and then went on to win the World Mountain Running Championship in Albania a couple of months later.
Max is 33 and lives in Bend, Oregon with his wife and two children. While he's put his Cornell degree to good use, having worked as a chemical engineer, he's now a full time competitive runner. Max's bio at the Montrail athlete website sort of says it all... "Primary Race Distance: Hmmm, 3k to 50 mile. What does primary mean anyway?"
The quote might explain this ultrarunner's participation in the 2012 US Olympic qualifier finals for the 3,000 meter steeplechase where he finished sixth and beat his previous personal best by two minutes (You can see the race here). But most of Max's professional running resume is a string of first places in major long distance events far from the track including the Xterra Trail Running World Championships, Xterra Trail Running National Championships, USATF National 50k Trail Championships, Transrockies 6-day, USATF Half Marathon Trail Championships and the USATF National Trail Marathon.
When I was in Oregon a couple of months ago, I had the good fortune to hang out with Max and make his portrait. I'm appreciative of his time and openness to making the images. He's a nice guy and a remarkable athlete.
Call me a lazy editor, but here's a first for the Mountain Runner Portrait Project! I've decided to include more than one image in this post... Bonus!
See all the photographs from Mountain Runner Portrait Project at my website.
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