The Half N Half Marathon is a unique race where one can run a trail half marathon or a road half marathon or do both halves. It is one of those quirky things about running that I love. Runners are never just happy running races, many of them like to add little twists and kinks to it. I was planning on running the trail half this year but the running gods intervened and I have a knee injury and I am waiting for the insurance company to okay physical therapy with the help of a legal resource and in the meantime I am hobbling around. So I wanted to do something for this race and I decided to just go out and take photos of the contestants all on my own with asking permission or anything. I I loaded up the Nikon and off I went.
Both races start at the same time and I couldn’t get to the start line so I parked on the upper parking lot at Turkey Mountain and found a good place to take photos and just stayed there and shot a couple hundred shots.
I am a picture taker and not a photographer and my shots prove it. Talk about cutting off people’s heads and feet and slicing them vertically and getting their faces in shadows. I did it all!!
It was fun though. It reminded me that everybody in a race is running a different race. The leaders are racing against each other. Lots of people make it a social event. Some people have a personal goal they are trying to achieve, others are just out there for being outside. There are as many reasons as there entrants. The leaders are hitting it hard and it shows but most of the rest of the people look pretty darn happy.
I was totally jealous!!!
After the last of the trail runners went by I hobbled back to the car and drove down to Riverside Drive where the Road Runners were. I found a good spot and took a bunch more photos.
I saw a lot of the same thing. Really fast front runners and a lot of smiles. Runners are a happy lot.
I have never been waved at so much in my life. I might do this again.
I am still very jealous though.
I uploaded my several hundred photos into a facebook album and then shared that with the Runners World facebook page. it seems to be pretty well received. I didn’t really know how people would react.
Oh I like this…very much!!!
Nice collection of shots. Sorry about your injury. Hopefully therapy gets u back on the running path soon.
Great action shots.
Seems like everyone found their “Happy Place”. Photographing running events is a lot like photographing automobile road races. You pick an interesting spot where you think there could be some action, good back ground and light. Then you set up and wait for the fun to start. Hope the new year finds you running again.
Everybody looks so happy. I love the Santa hats!
Nice to see everyone running and smiling 🙂
Great , Loved the post & pics.
lol, the longest I have been running was 7 km. After that I was bored and went for blueberries instead 🙂
Well done!
What amazed me about your photos today is the variation in the clothing the runners are wearing. Some are half naked and others are all bundled up! They look very friendly and happy though!
Hello, it is great to see all the runners and they are smiling. Wonderful series of photos.
Happy Tuesday, enjoy your day!
Looks like ‘happiness on the run’ ~ neat and fun photos ~ that is what counts ~ finding the joy in what you are doing ~
Happy Week to you,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
You took some cool photos. Lots of joy in their faces. Had me wanting to run, which I haven’t in decades because of my joints.
The View from the Top of the Ladder
As a fellow runner, I can appreciate your disappointment about your injury – runners need to run to be happy. And I think you characterized the nature of runners well – all out there for different reasons, but driven by that reason – to run! I really enjoyed looking at the smiles on most and the concentration on some!