NYC Marathon: Mile 12

Behind the Painting

Mile 12 of the New York City Marathon. The runners turned up Manhattan Avenue and the midday sun sent their shadows sprinting up the street ahead of them. I stood to paint against the blue caution tape, tucked between the sign swingers and the hand clappers and a cacophony of shakers and whistles and airhorns. I couldn’t capture a single runner so I had to settle for color, for motion, for a mood of total elation, a cool fall day, the entire city celebrating, thousands of runners racing across the five boroughs.