Of all the places where the first day of the year occurs -- and that's everywhere on this calendar-abiding planet -- Los Angeles is just about the sunshiniest.
Oh, not always. We do get rain, but when most people pair Southern California and the concept of New Year's Day in their minds, they come up with bright-red roses and whimsical creatures made of daisies and glittering royal crowns and a daylight extravaganza viewed by millions.
But we're not all sunbeams and morning pep 'round these parts; sometimes, just after the New Year, we like to don our trainers and hoof it through downtown well after the sun goes down and all of those pretty roses have been stowed for another season.
The New Year's Race, a nighttime happening, pairs up the feel of resolution-making with the atmosphere of New Year's Eve. Of course, it puts shoe to asphalt a few days after Dec. 31 -- Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, to be specific -- and you don't need to wear a little paper cone hat while you run your half-marathon or 10K or 5K through downtown.
Or the Kid's Fun Run at Grand Park, which is an afternoon thing. The longer stretches are scheduled for later on, post-sundown, so the whole layering concept should be practiced by every participant.
Participants who may, depending on the run they choose, see the exterior of Dodger Stadium. The halfers'll take that particular sight in, while the 10K peeps and the 5K runners will enjoy the Grand Park area dressed in its evening glow.
A Place Called Home is the race's beneficiary. Can't make the race? Feel free to donate.
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And if you want to ease into those exercise resolutions, that's a plan, too. The first weekend in January is pretty famous for its busy hiking trails and humming gyms. But if 5Ks are your normal bag, only in the daytime, a nighttime version, with a wintry bite, could be just the jumpstart you need for 2016.
As for LA's daytime cred come New Year's? That's likely set in stone -- or soil, if you prefer, given the rosy nature of the day -- but we can, and do, honor the holiday's nighttime character with both parties on New Year's Eve and, a few days later, a mondo run through downtown.
