Illinois Marathon | Hill Street Blues

Illinois Marathon 2012

The 4th Annual Illinois Marathon was run yesterday. This year, I vowed to get out early enough to catch the elite runners – the course runs down Church Street just one block from our house. The marathon actually combines a 10K, half-marathon, and full marathon by routing runners along similar paths with various turnoffs that eventually come back together, all ending on the 50-yard line in Memorial Stadium. I chose to take photos where the 10K runners peel off from the marathon runners, about mile marker 15, just a few blocks down Church Street from our house. The 10K runners are started ahead of the marathon (I think) and they pass my position about mid-way in their race (3 miles), as opposed to the 15-mile post for the marathon, so by the time the lead marathon runners got to my location, only the end of the 10K participants are left (mostly walking by this time). My inexperience with taking photos with actively moving people made for a challenge, and my positioning did not quite single out the marathon runners from the rest – next year I’ll do better.