L.A., N.Y. Marathons show cities' resiliencies

The L.A. Marathon, "paused for months amid pandemic-era public health concerns, made its return on a foggy, cool Sunday morning" with a "revamped route, lots of pre-race face-masking and a smaller field of runners filling streets from Dodger Stadium to a new finish line in Century City." The event drew "roughly half the people that would normally run," around 13,000 instead of more than 27,000, which was "by design" amid COVID precautions. But it was "no less a bucket-list event for many who ran"  (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/8).

Earlier in the day yesterday, the TCS N.Y. Marathon "served as a metaphor for the city’s arduous recovery from being one of the places most devastated by the pandemic." The race was "still limited in some ways," as the "field of 30,000 participants was about 40 percent smaller than the 2019 group." Still, it was "hard to escape the collective optimism, a feeling that was bolstered by the warm sun, crisp air and colorful fall foliage along the route and at the finish in Central Park" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/8).