the art of showing up

One surprising thing about my 20s is the amount of people who start running marathons. But first, let me give you a backstory. This is Shervin, Tejas, and you all know Colt. They're all creators, roommates, and my little New York City family every time I go to visit. And they picked up running, like everyone else in their 20s to 30s. At the end of last year, Shervin proposed we all take a group trip somewhere. We should all go to London together. we decided we were going to go and support Shervin at the 2024 London Marathon. And then Tay just got the opportunity to run the marathon, and so did Colt. So I thought I was going to be watching this marathon with a group. But guess who's stuck filming this thing alone? That's right, me. I'm at the airport. I'm going to meet the guys in London. Secondly, tomorrow morning, London, here we come. That flight's delayed. That was a journey. The boys are bad. All right, update. We are at the hotel. I forgot my entire makeup bag. Love that for me. You don't need makeup because you're beautiful just the way you are. Thank you. Anyways, we're going to meet up with the rest of the crew. And then where are we going? To the expo to get our bibs. To the expo to get their bibs. Everyone was staying at different places. So we finally met up and it started to sink in how big this race was actually going to be. Have you run a bib? No, I have. Since I didn't want to be all by myself, I recruited my good friend Taha to help me film. So while the others sorted their stuff out, we decided to do some homework on how we were going to navigate and be filmers during this 26.2 mile race around the entire city. After talking to one of the volunteers, we got some very valuable information for the day of, but we also realized this was going to require a bit more planning than we thought. I'm actually so nervous. Oh, man, I'm scared. Everyone had their own events to go to for the first night, so we ended off our day on a boat ride for a bit of sightseeing around London. It was quite the first day here, lots of nervous and exciting energy in the air, but nonetheless, it was a successful day one, and we still had more prep for tomorrow. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I took a walk. to Oxford Street. I just went to the nearest booths and picked up some stuff. Now we're okay. Colt went on a shakeout run this morning while I went to go shopping. The plan today is me and Taha have to figure out a route for tomorrow so we can try to get the best vantage points to catch the guys and film them. We also want to make some signs. Gotta support. And we're gonna meet up with the rest of the crew and get the day started. Day two in London. After securing a map and some poster supplies, we explored around a bit and headed off to meet up with the rest of the group. So far, we were on top of things in terms of supplies, but our planning was another story. Okay, game plan. This is the map of the race tomorrow. I don't know. I just moved to London, so I don't have any local knowledge. And the worst... We knew we were only going to be able to catch them a limited amount of times, but we also had to consider there would be thousands of people on the streets trying to watch too. So after going on about our options for viewpoints, considering what would be closed off or too crowded, and our transportation, we started to lose our minds a bit and decided to reconvene later. i always knew at some point i wanted to make signs for the race but what i didn't expect was for us to turn the lobby of a five-star hotel into a little arts and craftsman it was the cutest thing ever the staff were supportive strangers were joining in and we were looking ready for tomorrow and then i gotta head out colt and the rest of the runners that are staying at the same hotel just left on a shuttle to bring them to the starting line. Last night, the crew, we just took some time after dinner to plan out our meeting spot and our meeting time. We decided on a spot around mile five. Literally, the main objective is to try to find a spot to catch them and to get a really clear shot of them running and so that they can see us and we can see them. If we can do that once, perfect, amazing. If we could do it twice, that would be like literally just that's the goal three times if we're lucky which i don't know i have the locations of our runners almost ready i literally need to leave like time to go i'm excited all right we're on the way to our first viewpoint mile five we got the crew here if you've never watched a marathon in a major city before there are three things you probably should know The first thing is, your phone will have signal, but half your messages might not send. Still, try to tell your runners exactly where you'll be, left or right, what's around you, etc. Due to the sheer volume of people on the streets, both parties could be easy to miss. We didn't really know if our messages were going through, so we relied on tracking their locations and just hoped they knew to look out for us. The second thing you need to know about watching a marathon is because of the amount of people, the tube and trains may have lineups. and there's a chance your runners will be faster than you are. Our original spot was insanely crowded, so we decided to try again and go one stop further. Luckily, we had two locals navigating with us, but honestly, it would have been a struggle without them. After meeting up with more of our team, we finally managed to find a clear spot. Shervin already blew past us, but we still had a chance to catch Colt contagious. The third thing you need to know about watching a marathon is that some spots are more crowded than others. Closer to the start, you got more of a chance to see them. Closer to the finish line, well, good luck. At this point, Shervin had already finished the race, but we still had a small window to film Colt and Tejas. Okay, cutting it close. We have around like 12 minutes to try to catch them. There was a colossal amount of people at mile 25. The odds that we could get to the front of film were slim. Do you think we'll see them? We were running out of time, so our group made the decision to split. So we're going to try to get on the bridge. Half went forward while we went back through the crowd. And after dodging, jogging, and a bit of squeezing, there they were. Luckily, Paolo got the shot because me and Mayuri were absolutely losing it. Screaming trying to get their attention. Which obviously didn't work, but it was enough to see them. I can't believe we found them on the bridge. We actually found them. And a few minutes later, Taha saw them too. Electric. Electric. Literally electric. They say that most of life is just showing up and what we do every day says just as much as the big moments do. How one seemingly small idea can lead you to a place that brings you closer to something bigger than yourself. Every time I saw you, I got like energy. I didn't exactly know what to expect watching my first marathon, but I'm glad to have had a tiny part in this massive, beautiful thing. It was a reminder of what we are capable of doing and how inherently human it is to want to share it with others. So whether you are chasing something for yourself or something bigger, you truly have one life. So don't forget to show up for it.

it’s ok to be the side character sometimes

check out Colt's video pov: https://youtu.be/upFHWePvVjI?si=uVJk7JW6CtHACNhR
😎 s/o to the london marathon support squad:
Colt  @ColtKirwan 
Tejas  @TejasHullur 
Shervin  @ShervinShares  
Taha @answerinprogress 
Paolo @woahpaolo 
Mayuri @mayuri.hullur
Danny @DodfordYT 
Jasmine @jasbaragwanath
Ken @kenchwatek
Veljko @velljkoo

THANK YOU to Paolo, Taha, and Veljko for all the additional footage that day. Couldn't have pulled this off without you guys! 

Special thanks to @eviewhy for helping me cut & write this story! 

find me here:
➫ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeofriza/
➫ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lifeofriza
➫ Tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeK22VsH

Gear I Use:
SONY FX3 - https://geni.us/AHFeSrx
Vlog Camera: https://geni.us/wZTh
FAVE Vlogging Lens (20mm) - https://geni.us/jnAlilk
Ultra wide vlog lens (11mm) - https://geni.us/u3QYuU
CINEMATIC Lens (24-70mm 2.8) https://geni.us/0vwxP
Variable ND - https://geni.us/oH7F8ZO
Pro-Mist Filter - https://geni.us/MBPRz
Budget Lav Mic - https://geni.us/zzQ1iM
BEST Lav mic - https://geni.us/TKBZZk
Vlogging Mic - https://geni.us/xTH4ytk
Studio Mic - https://geni.us/uZLwzG
Motorized Slider - https://geni.us/CHvx
Tripod - https://geni.us/hBRBXf
Extra Sony Battery - https://geni.us/5MqQvhU
Monitor (Budget) - https://geni.us/Eog4BpT
Camera BACKPACK - https://geni.us/vCEAPNB

FAVE Editing program (DaVinci Resolve) - https://geni.us/jnUEF9Y
Music I use in my videos! ➫ https://share.epidemicsound.com/riza

Life Of Riza is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and B&H Affiliate, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com and bhphotovideo.com.