Photo courtesy Rodney Chang and marathoncoursephotos.com
A so-called “Marathon Maniac” captures the beauty, quirkiness and uniqueness of our neighborhood …
I mentioned last week that the Big D Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, April 10. You can have a look at street closures, etc., here. This is a far smaller race than the White Rock Marathon or last week’s Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2, so hopefully it won’t cause too much inconvenience.
As I was looking at the course info, I found a link to something quite fascinating. I always like to know what people from other places think of our city, and Dr. Cheng from Hawaii shares his view, via the 2010 Big D Marathon, in detail on the site marathoncoursephotos.com.
Dr. Rodney Chang from Hawaii is a Marathon Maniac—a group of runners who aim to experience a large number of races. During his trip to Dallas last year at this time for the 2010 Big D Marathon, Chang shot photos along the course. His gallery of photos allows the reader (viewer?) the opportunity to see our neighborhoods through the eyes of an outsider. For example, he sees things at White Rock Lake that I seldom appreciate such as “a terraced waterway” (spillway) and a historic western settlement (he’s looking through the back fence of the Dallas Arboretum). He documents “gum drop” shaped trees in some neighborhood yards; gorgeous views of creeks, trees and vines in the Lochwood and Old Lake Highlands neighborhoods; the trails at Norbuck and a really cute flower-potting idea (pictured) in a Lakewood landscape.
He captures the stark and bitter contrast between the Swiss Avenue mansions (an area he says he’s “honored to be permitted to pass through) and the dilapidated streets of far East Dallas.
