Ten tips for your perfect running selfie

The explosion of social media usage in recent years has led many to adopt the “pics or it didn’t happen!” mentality when going out with friends. Even more recently, this attitude has begun to spread to the running community, with runners Instagramming and tweeting photos of their routes, or selfies of themselves on their runs. Here’s how to make the most of your running selfie.

1) Get creative with it

The most essential element to snapping a great selfie of any kind is creativity. Last year at my cottage, a young fox used to frequently join me on my runs. After several weeks, I discovered that a neighbour was feeding it hotdogs, hence the love of people. I truly regret never taking advantage of snapping a pic of myself and my Muskokan running pal.

2) Light it right

When taking a selifie, you want the light in front of you. This is the opposite of a regular photo when, as the photographer, you would want the light behind you. Sunrise and sunset runners in particular should keep this in mind.

3) Snap your kicks

The pre or post-run shoe shot is a running selfie classic. Optimize your angles by pointing the camera straight down and have the frame just graze your thighs, relatively close to your hips – this will make your legs appear their longest. Canadian marathoner, Lanni Marchant, is a champ at the shoe shot. Check out her Instagram feed here.

4) Remember your manners

Stopping suddenly in a crowd of people is definitely a no-no, so be careful with your timing if you plan to take a race selfie. Not only is it impolite to block other runners, a study by Ohio State University in 2013 actually discovered that there are more than 2,000 ER visits a year that are a result of people being distracted by a phone while walking or running.

5) Embrace the blur

Allowing for a bit of blur is cool – it shows off your speed and makes your pic a true running selfie. Just make sure that the photo is still distinguishable – nobody likes an instagram feed that requires squinting.

6) Avoid the giraffe neck

You know when you’re snapping a pic with friends and someone has to crane their neck to fit in the photo? It looks strange. However, giraffes can run comfortably for long periods of time at speeds of approximately 16K per hour, so if the giraffe is your running spirit-animal, then you keep doing it.

7) Get witty with your caption

Here at Canadian Running, we’re fans of Canadian Olympian Sheila Reid’s instagram feed, mostly due to her hilarious captions. Check out her feed here for some inspiration.

8) Show off your route

Unlike some selfies (ahem, bathroom mirror selfies) running selfies are generally about showing off the background too. Every runner tends to think their route is the best in the world, so show off your waterfront path, back woods trail or route through the concrete jungle.

9) Think about who will see it

An important question to ask yourself before posting a selfie is, “will my friends be interested?” Nothing stings quite like a selfie with no likes, so don’t overpost and make your pics worth looking at.

10) Don’t duck face

Please, just don’t.