Rob,
If you were using a 10-22, I am guessing that was on a 1.6x crop camera or so, making it a 16mm equivalent. That is plenty wide. I understand the issue with distortion, and yes, at those focal lengths, it is hard to manage.
From my somewhat biased perspective, I would have shot him vertically coming toward me, while I was about 1-2 feet to his left (something like a 3/4 on shot), lighting him with a vertical strip box as main light from his right front, and having a fill at 1-stop less atop the camera, or just slightly right of the shooting axis. That would provide great lighting on him, and the vertical framing would impart more action. You would still get some background that would both be darkened and out of focus. I would plan to fire when the runner filled about 3/4s the vertical height in the viewfinder to allow both a bit of crop room, plus to pick up a bit more surrounding. Further, I would place the shooting axis at his beltline, and maybe back off to 13mm (about 20mm equivalent on FF) to reduce the distortion just a bit. Just suggestions for on near frontal action type shot.
The side running shots look good, and now that I understand what you were going for, I would suggest maybe a bit higher shooting angle to get more of the road beneath his feet (your theme), but still try to feather the light to not be as harsh on the road, but stronger on the runner. That may mean elevating it so the beam axis is about even with his head/shoulders, letting it fall of naturally toward the ground.
For the posed shot, I would still move in closer and do that in vertical orientation to allow some road to play out in front and behind him, and forget about the shrubs and stuff at the sides.
These are just some suggestions that came to mind when I first saw the images. The hardest part with this is getting him in stride at the right place where you are planning to shoot. If the main light is on his right side, for example, you might want his stride having the left knee rising to reduce any shadows across it, while also picking up the fill flash for emphasis. (This is for the 3/4 on shot.) From the side, it would look good if you could catch him when his stride is more opened. I realize that is not the running style of most marathoners, as their stride tends to be more compact to conserve energy.....it is just that a more open stride conveys more speed and action. Hey, it is "commercial" so you want to create the vision you have, so exaggeration is not out of place with the "model" ;-)
Sorry if this takes you off track from what you were thinking, but if you look at the Nike and other commercial shots, you will see that action is pronounced. The only time you may want more "road" is maybe shooting him from slightly behind as he is approaching a curve, and having him on the far left or right of frame, rather than centered. (Gives room for text block overlays, besides imparting the feeling of the distance ahead.)
Again, just some things to think about and try out if you get the chance. The hardest part is thinking about how the images will be used, and thus placing the subject into the frame in a way that the art director can wrap a story around it. Marc may be able to help with this perspective a bit more, as he used to do that stuff!!
LJ
