Elysian Park 5K Eco Run, Nov 6 2010
The Elysian Park Eco 5K was held Saturday, Nov 6. My friend Heather Heath put on the race; we’re part of the same running crew out of ARC in Los Feliz. This was her first event, ARC was a sponsor, and it took place on a within walking distance from my place, on a trail I regularly run. USATF So Cali added the race to their cross country series, which brought out The Janes and the Fluffy Bunny track clubs, who are dominating the series for women and men.
So many awesome moments here! The sequence of Cambria Wu is beautiful of course; I have a growing appreciation for the first one. Billy Kay looks like he might self-combust, and Cambria behind him, strong and fluid.
I’m not quite sure what it is about the first shot of the Fluffy Bunnies and a Jane. They remind me of gunslingers arriving on the scene, like they own the place — which I guess they did.
Jordan Page looks like he’s about ready to punch your lights out, confusing. I love the shape of his shadow against the rough texture of the soil and rock, very Cartier-Bresson.
The concentration on 9-year-old Joshua’s face is amazing. You just know that race meant as much to him as it did to any of the Janes or Fluffy Bunnies. Maybe more.
Shannon Payne makes me laugh, such pure delight! Martha Rivera’s look of shock makes me wonder if it’s directed at you, behind you, or at her own accomplishment. Maybe that’s just me projecting the memory of my first 5K. Even while I’m sick, these photos make my legs twitch.
The arrival of the gunslingers is definitely the feel I get from the Fluffy Bunny + Jane shot. It’s what I thought when I saw them walking down the hill, and why I snapped the shot. You see it again in the starting line shot, as they plot their course through the grass to the trail.
That warmup shot is also interesting to me because you see the difference between the racers and the folks running for fun. It’s a difference that’s always there, but so much more apparent when there are less than 100 folks gathered at the starting line. What’s interesting, too, is that while there’s a clear difference in intent, the times don’t show it; there’s no gap between the racers and the runners. You’d think, looking at that photo, that there’d be a chunk of time after the last racer and before the first runner, but there wasn’t. Not all the runners are slow, and not all the racers are fast.
The apparent difference in effort between Billy & Cambria is startling. She looks like she’s taking it so much easier than he is. I don’t know that that’s true, but it sure looks that way.
That picture of Shannon Payne also makes me happy. There’s another – the frame just before that one – that I might still post. And another of little Joshua making his last burst…even though he’d already crossed the finish line…
There was something so pure about this race. Obviously that purity will be completely lost in a mega-event like the LA Marathon or one of the Rock’n'Roll Marathons. Those are only races for a highly competitive handful of pros, mostly Kenyans and Ethiopians. This was a race for the rest of us. No pompous jackass of a Mayor delivering speeches from a limo, no runner-up from America’s Got Talent singing the Star Spangled Banner, no corporate sponsorship of anything but maybe the athletes themselves (the Janes and the Bunnies both have Nike sponsorship, I believe). No wonder Shannon Payne looks so delighted.
I’m not sure how far into the course you were shooting from, but maybe Cambria didn’t have anything more to race for. If she had a big lead on the woman behind her, maybe she knew she wouldn’t be challenged and cruised in.
I’ve mentioned before how the northeast is littered with tiny races on a shoestring: less than 200 runners, one or no aid stations, recycled bib numbers and popsicle sticks instead of timing chips. I think the purity may be partly because there’s no reason to run them except for the competitive spirit, or the fun of it. They don’t draw runners who rely on hyped-up events to get themselves out the door, or to support the (already valid) feeling that they’ve accomplished something.
The organisers and volunteers put them on for the sake of the community rather than to establish themselves as event managers. The racers race for glory or pride rather than prize money, and the runners run for a simpler kind of fun than the masses of spectators, bands, t-shirts or medals. At least for that one morning, everyone brings their own motivations with them. What’s beautiful to me is seeing so clearly in these events, how strong, and undiluted some of those intrinsic drives and pleasures are.