The Solitude of the Long-Distance Runner

Many of my friends do long distance road running and become addicted to it so the least I can do is go along to their events to support them, always taking my camera with me. At these events the pain that these guys go through fascinates me. I began photographing them and other random strangers in events a year or two ago. The genuine emotions they're going through is palpable and in some cases I want to tell them to stop as they're in such distress but I'd never do this as I know what the reply would be. I combine the portrait with a relevant image, generally I imagine what they're going through or thinking at the time I take the shot. Most of the images are straightforward portraits.