Marathon Mania is Back

Today here in San Diego, more than 20,000 runners participated in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Series Marathon and Half Marathon, which occurred concurrently. The routes go through and around my neighborhood of University Heights—Hillcrest, Normal Heights, and North Park. Highway 163 partly closes down for participants, too. SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns forced cancellation of last year’s event.

My wife and I walked along Georgia towards the bridge that crosses over University Ave., hoping to see runners below. But the bulk of them had long gone by. The Featured Image shows a small group coming up to the misting and watering station along Georgia Street between Lincoln and the overpass. I used Leica Q2 to make the moment. Vitals, aperture and shutter speed manually set: f/8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 9:40 a.m. PDT.

Maybe if Annie had fully recovered from her nasty cough and my immune system wasn’t fighting off infection, we might have gotten out sooner to where there were larger crowds—or even looked in on festivities taking place throughout the day.

With so many people so close together, and so much fuss about COVID-19, I wondered if runners would wear masks or news reports would prattle on about a super-spreading event. I saw uncovered faces galore and the fear-mongers are quiet.