TBA
LA Marathon
With the threat of COVID-19 bearing down, Conqur Endurance decided to keep this year's Los Angeles Marathon going as scheduled. Local, state, and national health authorities had not yet recommended closing large events.
And to be fair, with this year being the 35th anniversary of the race, a lot of us were looking forward to it. Special LA Loyal medals were given to all consecutive year runners, and runners with 10 years in a row got even more special medals. Initial entrance to the expo was a little subdued, but after bib and t-shirt pickup, ASICS did a great job making the floor very welcoming, and the crowd felt pretty close to normal. Aside from the Turkish Airlines booth being completely devoid of any employees, it was very hard to tell anything was abnormal this year.
Pre-race carbo load lunch was some mediocre ramen at Kopan. Their fatty pork was a nice break from char shu, and the deep fried calamari was... a little lighter batter than normal? Not sure it was particularly outstanding, but it was a nice change from heavier batters. Dinner at Pho Fever was a large pho tai sach with extra tripe and rare steak, YUM! Skip the nem nuong cuon tho, it was pretty ordinary, and definitely wouldn't fly in 714 or 626. Which, again, to be fair, for west LA standards, "pretty ordinary" nem nuong cuon is actually a really strong effort for this area...