This past Sunday was the 25th annual Los Angeles Marathon and also the debut of a new route dubbed “From the Stadium to the Sea.”  Runners raced from Dodgers Stadium through downtown Los Angeles all the way to the beach at Santa Monica Pier.  Organizers hoped to give participants a more interesting route that covered many of L.A.’s landmarks.

One of those landmarks included Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame which so happens to be where I live.  I had a great view of the marathon from my balcony and snapped a few pictures and some video clips.

It was a lot more fun than I expected.  The energy and enthusiasm of both runners and spectators were contagious and I was often cheering and waving back at people.  At some point, Tim decided to point his powerful speakers out the window and started blasting the theme from Rocky:

The effect it had on people was awesome! As soon as runners heard the theme, they perked up, cheered and smile. Many people raised their arms in the air while jogging while others started shadow-boxing. I got a huge thrill every time a large group of people cheered in unison, picked up their pace, and starting running to the music. We had it on loop and it just made me feel so good to see what a positive effect it was having on racers. It was during a perfect spot in the race too, right after a “pick-me-up” station that was handling out water bottles and orange slices.

Towards the end of the race, when the crowd got really thin, Tim decided to change the music. I cannot believe he did this and I thought it was a bit mean, but surprisingly, most people got a kicked out of it. He switched to the Chariots of Fire theme. I didn’t know what this was by name, but immediately recognized it once he played it. To me, it’s usually used in comedies when the protagonist and antagonist both spot something at the same time and make a dash to get to it first. Then you see them running in slow motion making silly punches and grabs at each other. Here, take a listen and you’ll see what I mean:

I could barely stand to see people’s reactions, but many laughed and started running in exaggerated slow motion themselves. One guy even said sincerely “Thanks for the inspiration!” though I think there was one lady that perhaps felt uncomfortable upon hearing it. That’s Tim and his twisted sense of humor.

He didn’t play it long and soon the street cleaners were upon us sweeping away discarded orange peels and water bottles.

I had a great time and hope they keep this route for next year!

Below are some videos and photos. My favorites include the costumed runners (as Stitch, Kermit, and a PedEx truck).

[View Slideshow] [Back to Main Gallery]

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Was the well-intentioned, 1st Annual Los Angeles Street Food Fest a disappointment?  According to Twitter, the answer is yes.

A Twitpic of the massive lines at the LA Street Food Fest from seeson

I actually first heard about the Street Food Fest on Twitter.  A few days ago, one of the food trucks I follow mentioned that they might be at the fest.  I had forgotten all about it until I realized this morning that today was event day.  I went to the official website for more information and my mouth started to water.

Many of the city’s popular and trendy food trucks were gathering for the day.  They were offering special menus of small bites and keeping prices low so foodies could sample a bit of everything.  All that separated me from street food heaven was a short subway ride downtown and a $5 entrance fee.

Or so I thought.

One of the great things about Twitter, if not the best thing, is the search function.  Where else can one find real-time answers and opinions?  I was confident that there would be at least a few people who would be tweeting from the fest.  I entered a search for “street food fest” so I could get a sense of what the scene was like downtown.

The results started pouring in. Some were only a few seconds old. My eyes widen and my mouth got dry.

People were comparing the lines to lines at Disneyland. LinLorienelen said they were like Depression-era food lines.  Others had waited 40 minutes just to gain entrance to the fest, plus another 30 minutes waiting in line to order and then another 30 minutes to get their order.  What happened to being able to float from vendor to vendor and sample everything?  I was discouraged, to say the least, and then I saw this video from mochipark who tweeted, “If you’re not already at the street food fest, stay away. Way away.”

That was all I need to see (I had to laugh at the person saying “I’m still hungry!”).  I’m not a very patient person, even less so when it comes to food.  As the day progressed, I kept checking Twitter to see if the situation was changing.  It only got worse.  Several tweets talked of waiting over an hour and a half for entry only to be turned away. Yes, turned away! (Why bother waiting that long in the first place?!) The organizers had to nip the problem in the bud, although it was way too late by then. The turnout and demand was overwhelming. Many vendors rain out of food by 2 PM, even though the festival was scheduled to go until 5.  It was difficult for most to try more than one vendor, and the waiting, great Jebus, the waiting!

I hope that next year (if there is a next year), the venue will be larger and the event more organized. Though really, I don’t know what they could have done differently this year and I don’t blame the organizers.  This is the power of the internet and of social media. News of the street fest spread across the web like wildfire and everyone and their uncle showed up.  In my search results, I saw that tons of people were on their way downtown. Did they not know what was going on? Did they not care? I wonder how many people actually use the Twitter search function like I do.  I felt bad for those who tweeted, “On my way to the L.A. Street Food Fest. So hungry!”  Yeah, good luck satisfying that hunger in the next 2 hours. I’m sure it didn’t help that today was gorgeous, sunny and warm.  Strangely, the official Twitter account for the fest was silent today.  I’d like to imagine that those behind the account were too busy spending the day going “Oh. Shit.”

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Around 5 this evening, I got up to investigate the flood of orange light streaming in through the glass doors of my balcony.  I figured the sun was setting, but since it has been dark and stormy all day, the vibrancy of this light caught my eye.  I noticed a guy in a building across the street from me standing outside on his cold and wet balcony snapping pictures up at the sky.  I wondered what he was looking at and then - GASP - my jaw dropped.  Right in front of me was the largest and most vivid rainbow I have ever seen, and right next to it was a lighter rainbow.  Double rainbow goodness!!

I sprinted for my camera.

I took some video at first because I knew still pictures would not capture the magnificence I was seeing.  Also, both photos and videos tend to make things look further away than they actually seem in real life.  Let me tell you, this rainbow felt like it was this close.

The storm clouds were reorganizing and the sunlight was fading as quickly as the rainbow.  I took a few still shots from my balcony and then rushed up to try to capture some from my roof.  I’m so glad I did because for the first time ever I was able to see the entire arch of a rainbow and caught both ends of it! Weeeeee!  The rainbow was simply too large for me to capture the entire arch in one picture, but I could have stared at all day.  Simple pleasures in nature get me so excited. Here are the best pics of the lot:

My first shot of the rainbow from my balcony.

Angled to see more of the rainbow arch.

From my rooftop, I stumbled upon the other end of the rainbow!

The rainbow is starting to fade as the sun blazes down the sky. Downtown Los Angeles is centered.

The rainbow is fading fast and storm clouds are moving back in.

It is almost all gone now. Storm is picking up steam.

It is getting very windy again as the rainbow melts away.

Finally, here’s the video. Important: My camera’s mic is quite powerful and it picked up a lot of loud and swooshy street noise. Please have your volume on low or off.

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Wildfires have been raging here for nearly a week.  I can see the smoke and resulting water vapor from my apartment.  Fortunately, it’s not like it was a few years ago where I actually saw red and orange flames that lasted for hours.

These crazy clouds are actually a combination of smoke and water vapor.

This one looks like a bomb was dropped!

I feel badly for all the people and animals affected.  We have evacuation centers in place for people and their pets, but where are those wild animals supposed to go?! Poor chipmunks, coyotes, bears and squirrels.  I hope they don’t suffer much. :-(  Also, we should all be grateful to the men and women out there fighting the fire in this 100+  heat and oppressive smoke.  It takes a special kind of person to chose to do that.

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Last week, while lounging on the sofa, I noticed the balcony doors were suddenly aglow with steaks of orange.  I looked outside and caught my breath at the sight of a gorgeous sunset disappearing behind buildings and palm trees.  I don’t think the English language has an adequate word to describe the sense of awe, appreciation and smallness one feels in the face of such natural beauty, be it that searing sunset or the perfect symmetry of a flower’s petals.

Here are some pictures I wanted to share:

Snapped while standing on my apartment's balcony.

From up on the roof deck; two others were doing the same!

A closer look.

Spectators in wonder.

Turned around on the roof to catch the sun bouncing off downtown Los Angeles.

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Guessing that these are chipmunk holes since I saw a couple of the critters along the trail earlier.

The following pictures are of the view of the city from the trail.  Los Angeles is so spread out and flat!

The skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles are on your left.

A close-up shot of downtown L.A.

You can see the tall, commercial buildings of Wilshire Blvd.

A close-up shot of the Miracle Mile, which is about 3 miles away.

Another wide shot spanning from downtown across to Century City.

It was a slightly cool, cloudy day which made it great for the hike.  We only made it half way up the trail though. I am slowly admiting to myself that both Jesse and Penny aren’t as young and spry as they used to be (they are 11 and 7, respectively).  Penny actually made the hike pretty miserable because she had one of her “fits.”  Every now and then, for reasons unknown, Penny gets into a frenzy and tries to eat everything in sight.  Now, it’s normal for dogs to eat grass now and then, but Penny not only goes after grass, she’ll gulp down leaves, twigs, weeds, roots, stalks, and even dry, rough stuff like those things that look like wheat stalks.  They’re all too tough to be chewed, so she ends up swallowing stems that are as long as 12 inches or more!  She gets very persistent about it and it’s the only thing on her mind; I end up having to drag her away from bushes and brush areas while she make these awful hacking and choking noises as she’s trying to get the plant matter down.  I’m sure more than one passerby on the trail thought I was somehow abusing my dog!

I basically spent the entire hike, about an hour and a half, holding Penny by the collar to keep her next to me.  This didn’t stop her from trying to dive and yank towards the bushes every 30 seconds.  She is very strong and it was miserable trying to keep her from pulling us into the brush.  My shoulder and lower back are aching from the effort! I also had to stop numerous times to reach down into her throat and pull something out.  She was still crazed during th walk home and even yanked hard to try to get close enough to the fern our apartment building has in the lobby!  Ugh!  I don’t know why she does this and haven’t found anything online about it.  Thankfully, it ony happens maybe 3 times a year, but she sure did ruin today’s hike!

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