LA Marathon

After the busy day Saturday, I was pretty tired and wanted to sleep in on Sunday. That, however, did not happen because Sunday was the LA Marathon.  On Sunday morning I was awakened by the drum beats of the performers at the corner of 1^stStreet and Grand Avenue.  Hearing the drum beats, I figured that, since I wasn’t going to be sleeping anyway, I should go watch the runners.  I grabbed my camera and headed over to 1^stand Grand to both cheer the runners and shoot some photographs of the interesting characters that ran.  

While shooting the runners, two women that I do not know, and had never seen before, stopped and asked me to take their picture.  I did.  I took two shots of them.  One picture is below.  If anyone knows these two ladies, please drop me a line and I would be happy to send them the photos and would love to hear about their marathon experience.  

While I was shooting the race, in addition to the runners, I saw the Dodgers 3^rdBaseman Justin Turner.  He was across the street from me passing out water to the runners.  I noticed a couple of things about Justin Turner that I thought were both interesting and inspiring.  

First, he arrived after the elite runners had already passed through the area. In so doing, he was there to pass out water to the “regular folks” running the race.  He was not there just to see the best runners performing.  He was there to see, assist, and cheer for the regular people that were trying to do something incredible.  

Second, he posed for every person that wanted a picture of him.  He posed with people taking selfies, and he made sure that he did not distract or impede the runners that did not want to stop to meet him.  He spent his time encouraging the runners.  

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Justin Turner at a meet and greet event that was at a coffee shop near a prior office of mine and noticed that he had the same way about him then.  At that event, he autographed anything anyone wanted signed, posed for selfies, and posed for pictures.  In doing all that though, he also made sure to stay out of the way of the service line for people who just wanted to get their coffee and did not want to take a picture.  I just wish I had known he was coming so that I could have been on the other side of the street to get some better shots of him.  

It is clear to me that Justin Turner is clearly a true gentleman and an excellent role model to our next generation.  Having seen that, and being a Dodgers fan, I wish him an amazing season and career!