I have had a few sporting themed posts recently and here is another one. This time it is the Chicago Marathon. When we lived in the city, we were right in the heart of the marathon route. On several occasions, my brother-in-law took part in the marathon and we would then go out and experience more of the course as we tried to pick him up at various points around the whole route. The way the route is designed means the spectators can cut across easily between sections and be ready when someone comes by again.

For several years, the route was changed where it came past our place. Some rebuilding of one of the stations meant it wasn’t practical for the runners to use that intersection so they diverted down a street and along another to pick up the original route. This meant they came right by us. A couple of times I went down to the street to watch them come through (provided I was more interested in being in bed on a Sunday morning!).

One of my favorite shots was taken from this location and it is the one at the top. I went with a slow shutter speed just to see what would happen. It turns out that the only thing that stays still for any period of time is a foot while it is on the ground so the shot has lots of feet clearly visible while everything else is blurred out.

This year my niece is going to be running the race. Sadly I won’t be there but I hope she has a good time. The support the crowds provide all around the course is supposed to be very good for the runners so let’s hope her first full marathon is an enjoyable one.