Oak Hill Flyer

 
k and i went to the usa olympic marathon trials in houston this weekend.  we joined our friends from the saturday morning wrecking crew for some exciting marathon action.  the race day weather was perfect for running, spectating, and most importantly, photography.

26.2 miles, six tickets to london, and my 24-70 2.8; let's rock.

click for photos on flickr.com

below are my uniwatch-inspired observations of the trials, both through the lens and in post-production:

• ladies' night.  the number of women qualifiers outnumbered the men by nearly a 2:1 ratio.  it's tough to say whether it reflects a difference in talent or a difference in standards.  i swear that the majority of the photos being of young, athletic, barely-dressed women is not out of bias (except for deena--since athens 2004, i've been a total deena fanboy).  k, you believe me... right?
• ryan hall's gloves were mismatched.  after about 10 miles, that would bother the ocd crap out of me and i would just have to drop out of the race with no other reasonable alternative.  perhaps asics isn't ponying up with their contract: "THAT'S your offer?  psh... i'll give you my chest and right hand, but you can forget about the left."
• every runner was required to wear an identification tag on both shoes, not just one.  it was unclear whether these tags had any timing hardware built into them.
• the majority (but oddly, not all) of commercial logos on runners' apparel were taped over.  clearly there was some legal reason as to why, but i am unsure about the specifics.  even the pace trucks' manufacturer was obscured.  whoever was in charge of obscuring did a great job of matching color schemes, so as to obscure the obfuscations.
• alissa mckaig ran with psalm 73:25-26 written on her left hand.  either she is right-handed, or her fellow runners played an inspirational frat party trick on her while she was sleeping. (you logicians out there can keep your piehole shut.  my blog, not yours.)
• meb's breathe-right™ strip didn't stick.  they never do.  as was evidenced by his finish time, his run-right™ strip stayed in place (don't ask where he sticks that).
• lots of effort went into drink bottle customization.  from neon tape to glitter to family photos to hand-drawn state flags and all points in between.  imagine what these runners do with their checked luggage.
• some folks just wanna have fun.  the majority of the ~250 entrants realize they don't have a practical chance at making the olympic team.  it was not uncommon to see less-than-serious faces on some of the mid-packers, taking joy in the privilege of just being there.
• the storage twins!  i was largely done taking photos when these two came around the final turn; i snagged a photo that i promise is not a photoshop clone job.  i wager that's a wad of chewing gum in tara's (kara's?) right cheek.
• servicemen and women stood at attention at the finish line for the duration of the race.  two hours at attention sounds more difficult than a 2:09 marathon; respect and thank the uniform.
• kudos to the girl off the street who took the photo of k and i.  i always cringe when i hand my camera to a stranger to take a photo.  my fear isn't that they will run off with the camera, it's worse: i fear they will blow a perfect photo opportunity by filling 80% of the photo with sky and centering the statue of liberty on the top of my head.  not this gal--yay!
• although not captured in any photo, i did enjoy cheering for kelly chin, an alumnus of my alma mater.  go tartans--longhorn fans, eat your hearts out!

i'll let you find these nuggets in the photos for yourself; enjoy the treasure hunt and let me know if you find any other nuggets i missed.

distance running is alive and well in the states--go usa!

Posted by OHF on 15 January 2012 at 20:43 | Permalink