Marathon Man.
ROCK 'N' ROLL, DUDE!
Sorry for the caps lock, but that's what the alarm sounded like when it rang at 3:45 am, as my amazing wife and I struggled out of bed for a long day of work.
The assignment was to shoot the Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Seattle. 25,000 others also getting up early that day, but they had a much harder job — running 26.2 miles of a marathon. Okay, the majority of the runners chose the half-marathon, but still, 13.1 miles is about ten more than I can struggle through on any given day.
My specific job that day was to photograph the race leaders throughout the course. This meant riding on a motorcycle facing backwards as we moved ahead of the lead group.
I either had the best or worst assignment, depending on how one looked at it. Most of the photographers thought it was pretty cool. However, one experienced marathon shooter looked me dead in the eye and said, "You're crazy. I did it once, Never again."
Party on. I was fitted with a helmet and matched with a rider. I asked one of the experienced video guys if he had any advice. He told me to scout the bikes and choose one that didn't have too wide of a seat, and didn't have raised handles for the rider to hold onto. He said that after a couple of hours, raised hard plastic handles are NOT friends of your thighs.
I wasn't really nervous. The Rock 'N' Roll Marathon series is a big deal, professionally run, with events all over the country. They'd keep me safe, right? Before I hopped on the back of my BMW motorcycle, I shouted at my driver through the muffled helmet. "You've done this before, right?". He answered, "Ridden this bike? Yes. Ridden someone backwards at a marathon? No.".
Okay, now that we had that settled (two rookies leading a marathon), we were ready to go.
There wasn't much time to think once the race started. Luckily, we were weaving through streets of Tukwila and south Seattle that weren't really photogenic, so I had some time to get my bearings. The race organizers wanted me to focus not only on the leaders, but also to make images that showed the landmarks of the city as the runners made their way through the course.
Participants stretched near the starting line before the race:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 28mm, ISO 200, 1/320th sec.,f2.8)
The 25,000 runners started in stages, with the elite athletes leading the pack. We're already moving on the motorcycle trying to stay ahead of them:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/1250th sec.,f2.8)
Here you can see one of other motorcycles, this one with a video camera operator on the back, as we wind through south Seattle:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 120mm, ISO 400, 1/1250th sec.,f2.8)
We were able to stay comfortably ahead of the lead groups (there were two — one for the half-marathoners who took off at a faster pace, and one for the marathoners). The only time we had a bit of a jam up was when the big truck carrying media on a flatbed couldn't negotiate a tight turn in front of us. We had to hit the breaks (nearly throwing me off) and then the lead runner ran right up against us and had to slow for a second or two:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/125th sec.,f7.1)
While the first five or so miles of the course weren't very photogenic, soon we were along Lake Washington in the pretty morning light:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/1600th sec.,f3.2)
Those running the entire 26.2 miles separated from the half-marathoners at the I-90 bridge:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens + 1.4 ext @ 240mm, ISO 400, 1/1600th sec.,f6.3)
Running through the Battery Street tunnel made for different visuals, as the darkness and concrete was such a contrast to the sunny day outside:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 4000, 1/400th sec.,f4.0)
The last half of the course had the best visuals, as the runners ran on the Alaskan Way viaduct along and over the waterfront, with the Qwest Field, Safeco Field and Mt. Rainier as a backdrop. Unfortunately, a morning haze prevented the mountain from being clearly visible in photographs:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 120mm, ISO 400, 1/2000th sec.,f4.0)
Along the Alaskan Way viaduct headed south with the Smith Tower in the background:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/1250th sec.,f4.0)
Peter Omae crosses the finish line first to win the men's marathon:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec.,f4.0)
After shooting the leaders, we headed back onto the course to shoot groups of runners further behind in the pack, as they tend to be more grouped than the leaders, who are often in singles or pairs:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 170mm, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec.,f4.0)
Half-marathoners on the bottom portion of the viaduct:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens + 1.4 ext. @ 280mm, ISO 200, 1/1600th sec.,f4.0)
Runners cross the Aurora Bridge:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200mm/f2.8 lens + 1.4 ext. @ 280mm, ISO 200, 1/1600th sec.,f4.0)
Shooting my first marathon from a motorcycle was a great deal of fun. The light was alternately good (low early morning light) and not-so-good (high, hazy light), but photographing all those athletes was inspiring and a good challenge.
I wasn't able to put it all into perspective until the next day, when a Seattle police officer asked me, "Weren't you riding on a motorcycle yesterday? Backwards?". When I told him that was me, he just shook his head and said, "You crazy or something?".
Awesome pictures, as usual. Can’t believe that was your first time shooting a marathon from the back of a motorcycle. Crazy good.