This photograph was not created at the Olympic Games. It is not an NCAA championship, or a even city-sponsored marathon. It is a provincial race across humid and heavily-forested terrain in the state of Illinois. There will be no award ceremony for this competitor because his team did not win, or even place highly. Notice the image in one lens of his mirrored shades; you see the reflections of two runners ahead of him, and many more had already crossed the finish line. So how do we account for the rapture on his face?

There must be joy in what the rest of the world considers a small victory. That is the obvious explanation. The man trained hard and exceeded himself, perhaps following through with something he never dreamed he could accomplish on the downhill side of his life.