Houston Marathon 2015

 

No...We weren't running...
                ...we were photographing...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I had in mind to pop down to the 2014 marathon, to try and take some photos.  But, that trip didn't work out, rather difficult to get around downtown with all the closed streets, so I made, a year in advance, reservations at the Hilton that sits immediately adjacent to the Finish Line.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Bren and I went downtown on Saturday afternoon, had dinner, and took a walk around Discovery Green.  It's a park in a central part of the city, in a space framed by the baseball park, the basketball stadium, the convention center, and the Hilton Americas.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

It has a small reflecting pool, paths to walk around, lawns for musical events, fountains for kids to play in during hot weather, etc.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The Finish Line sits in the street right out in front of the hotel.  The staff member in the yellow jacket saw my camera and asked if we'd like to cut through and take some photos. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The big events are the full marathon and the half-marathon, which are run on Sunday morning.  From 5 to 6am, there is a steady stream of runners into the convention center, to register, check bags, stretch and prepare themselves for the run.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We hiked 12 or 15 blocks over to the starting area.  They "corral" the various groups on several side-streets, in order to manage the 25+ thousand, yes, thousand, entrants.  Of course, after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, security is very tight.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

They arrange the start so the expected front runners aren't caught up behind that massive crowd.  Here you see the earliest full marathon group, lead from the beginning by the African contingent.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

At that hour, the low light makes it difficult to stop the action of the quickly moving runners. 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We were very close to the action.  I was right on the curb, without any fence, trying to make sure I didn't lean out too far and get hit by the shoulder of a runner.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Like I say, you only have the light you have, so you have to get what you can get.

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

There was a solid stream of people, running quickly past us, no gaps, for a full 38 minutes to let the whole 25,000 of them pass.

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So then we ankled it back over the Finish Line area, arriving just in time to see the fastest finishers of the half-marathon.  By the time I got in place and could take some shots, I got the first women.

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Not long after, the first of the full marathon participants using hand-powered cycles and wheel chairs came in (well ahead of the runners).  (The "half'ers" were running right of the line of cones in the photo, and on the same street, the full'ers were running on the other side).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

More and more coming in, most of the half'ers coming in before the first full'ers...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 The youngest of the ages I heard called out was this eleven year old fellow.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 



And finally, here came the first of the full marathon runners, this year, as goes for most years in Houston, it was the Ethiopians and Kenyans who claimed the fastest times...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...both for men...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 
...and for women.  You can see that this young lady was most pleased to be coming to the finish.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And, as I mentioned, given what happened in Boston, security for the Houston Marathon is in the hands of several thousand pretty serious looking dudes.  Bully for them !!

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So that concludes our little impromptu trip to the marathon.  Knowing more about the layout, we might place ourselves a bit better for the Start (but where we were this morning wasn't bad).  The Hilton is right at "ground zero" for racing activities, so clearly we couldn't beat that.

 

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Oh...I must have had some fans in the crowd.  ;-)

Y'all take care,
-Mark