Los Angeles Rock’n'Roll Half Marathon, 2010
In order of finish, which means, pretty much, in the order these scenes occurred on the corner of Sunset and Logan, in front of Jensen’s Rec Center in Echo Park, at about the 9 mile point of the inaugural LA Rock’n'Roll Half Marathon. Hover over the images to get names and finishing times. Note that women’s winner Linda Somers Smith is 49 years old (a win for us codgers!). Enjoy.
I think it’s sort of interesting that very few of the leaders paid any attention to you, maybe only Noah Morrison because the camera was directly in his line of sight. If there’s any interaction it’s among the runners. Later on, more of them are aware of the camera.
It’s also kinda cool how you can see that right around 1:40 or so, there’s some kind of cliff in running form. Very few of the runners slower than that are catching much air under their feet. Faster than that, almost all the runners have strong knee lift. I have no idea what that means…
I’m not even sure whether either of those observations hold water. Does the whole array of photos support or refute those patterns?
Interesting observations.
I was staked out in a spot where there were no other genuine spectators, and got there early, so I doubt there were many spectators anywhere at all for the front runners. What that means is that I was noticeable to anyone who cared to notice. (I’m surprised at how many people I know who ran the race remembered seeing me.) So that probably accounts for some of the interaction you see.
In the case of Noah. Notice that he’s running alone. There can be no question that I’m photographing him and nobody else, and that I’m cheering for him and for nobody else. So it’s personal, and, of course, I’m in his line of sight, and the only person on that stretch of road that’s cheering at all. The other front runners were often running just behind or just in front of someone else, or else completely focused.
The runners later on are more aware of the camera in part because they are probably more aware of the cheerleaders in general. I know when I run these “races” the support means a lot to me. It’s part of the experience. You’ve talked about this, too. In my case, and I suspect in the case of many of the middle-of-the-pack runners, these things are events more than they are races.
In my LA Marathon post I write about the flood of memories the run through town brought on. I am fairly sure that neither Wesley Korir nor women’s winner Edna Kiplagat had similar thoughts. I suspect their focus was entirely inward. And these aren’t events for them, I don’t think. Edna Kiplagat won the LA Marathon women’s division and earned $20,000 for women’s first place, plus a new car, plus a $100,000 bonus for winning the battle-of-the-sexes thing…She also just won New York, and that was worth $130,000. One suspects that some of that prize money factors into her motivation. For her, it’s probably a race. For me, it’s about the experience, and, perhaps, the accomplishment.
I went back and looked at all the shots, and there is indeed a cliff in running form. I don’t think I’d've caught that had you not pointed it out.