A split-second of fame

So let me tell you all about my "appearance" on MTV Wednesday.

There is a show on that channel called "Made." In this case, the focus of the hour-long show was a Rochester-area teen who weighed about 245 pounds. The show brought in a personal trainer, and had footage of the young woman working out and losing weight.

The goal: lose 25 pounds and run a 5-kilometer race without stopping in Seneca Falls in December.

The woman actually dropped 30 pounds to get to 215. So she was ready for the "It's a Wonderful Run" in Seneca Falls. Which, I happened to run.

When everyone else registered for the race, we were told to sign a waiver so that we could appear on television. Check. There were a few cameras around the during the race, and we didn't know where any of them were from. Heck, we didn't even know when the show might air.

Today was that day, at 4 p.m., as the race officials sent out an e-mail a couple of days ago letting us know it was coming. I recorded the show for my wife, who wouldn't be back from work yet. The Seneca Falls portion of the show took up about two minutes at the end, as I found out while watchign the last 15 minutes live. I looked for familiar faces, including mine, as we had a group of 25 go. But it was difficult to pick anyone out. I did notice a bright, light blue windbreaker from the Medaille College race earlier in December go rushing by the screen -- and that's what I had on -- but there were a few of them there that day.

Curious, I went back and watched the race portions again ... in slow motion. There's a scene of the runners just getting started, with the focus on the woman in question. Suddenly, I ruthlessly go running past her for a few moments. In stop action, you can see me from about my nose down to my elbows. The woman is in the front and the focus of attention, so you have to treat it like the Zapruder film in order to make me out.

I was wearing an orange, big Syracuse Santa hat for the race, as many had silly costumes on for the occasion. Since I'm taller than most of the runners, that hat stood out in a couple of other scenes for an even shorter period of time.

I guess that leaves me 14 minutes and 59.8 seconds to go before I use up Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame. What's more, I guess I'll have to keep watching MTV now that I've "appeared" on it, something I haven't done in years.

But I have one question: When does Martha Quinn come on?