San Francisco Marathon

A few weeks ago I had the good fortune of having the above photograph included in the San Francisco Marathon. They solicited work from a number of San Francisco artists to adorn the mile markers of the race. My photo was Mile 5, at the end of Crissy Fields on the hill towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

The picture is one of a set that I took of Donna while she was training for her first Boston marathon. You can read the gory details here, when I blogged about it at the time.



This is another one of my favourites from that day, smudgy light blooms and all.

Whether amateur or pro, training for a marathon often takes on a story of its own beyond the simple routine. In my own running and cycling, and especially with Donna and her group of athletic friends, I see the way the training and the races can distill people's daily lives and struggles into something universally recognisable. In documenting their various races I've tried to get at those moments, and in doing so provide an alternative to the standard by-the-numbers race photographs.

You see more examples of my running and race photographs here on flickr. I am interested in following and documenting people during their training for a marathon, or similar endurance event. If you or someone you know would be interested in this, I would love to hear from you - contact info here.

As for the marathon itself, I was unfortunately unable to be there in person, but I had spies on the ground keep an eye out for it. Here's what I got -




Looks like it was a good, foggy, summer San Francisco day! Anyway, I was delighted to be included in the event. They auctioned off (for charity) the banner and a large mounted print I made. Actually I bought the banner for myself (I couldn't resist!), and I am waiting on word about who bought the print itself. If you're interested in the picture, they are selling posters of it here.