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<\/p>\nA pop-up has been giving out free chili dogs at the LA Marathon<\/p>\n
Sharon McNary on the prank food stand that has become an institution, of sorts, at the annual LA race.<\/p>\n
It must have been about 10 years ago when I was running in the L.A. Marathon and had worked my way through the early miles along Sunset Boulevard, through downtown L.A. and up Temple Street.<\/p>\n
On crossing the 101 Freeway into historic residential Echo Park, I see them: the hand-painted signs, lined up one after another: \u201cSuper Sloppy,\u201d \u201cChili Cheese Dogz.\u201d Then \u201cBAD IDEA?\u201d \u2026 \u201cMaybe, Maybe not!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I hear the music, and cheering from the neighbors who\u2019ve come out to see who will tempt gastric disaster for some spicy, drippy chili and yellow American cheese atop nitrate-laced tube steaks.<\/p>\n
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Did I grab a chili cheese dog? No. I have never dared to take anything more than photos at the stand, given that I still have, at about Mile 5, 21 more miles to run, and running with the \u201cruns\u201d is not my thing.<\/p>\n
But Marvin Suntonvipart did in 2016, he said, because he was undertrained and going at a slow jog. He figured it wouldn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cDigestive speed,\u201d he called it. And the roadside snack? \u201cIt was good, highly recommended.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chili cheese dogs, free to marathon participants, have been the brainchild of artist and puppeteer Julianna Parr and her friend Alex Kenefick since 2011<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ran up to me breathlessly and said I have this idea where we serve super sloppy chili cheese dogs to marathon runners. And I said to him ‘That’s a terrible idea. When do we start?'” Parr said.<\/p>\n
This will be their 13th year serving marathoners, having skipped a few during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a happening,\u201d Parr said, adding that she still gets a kick thinking about the runners\u2019 reactions when they turn the corner off the freeway and see the signs leading them to free chili cheese dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that you’re expecting to make choices about how you’ll run, how fast you’ll run, how slow you’ll run, how you’re going to pace, you’ve been doing this maybe for months to train, but we know that you have one choice that you probably did not bank on and that would be whether you’re going to eat a super sloppy chili cheese dog,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The food is prepped outdoors on site starting at 5 a.m. Marathon Sunday using camp stoves and heated chafing dishes to keep everything at a safe temperature. Then, the group waits for the athletes to come through. The race starts at Dodger Stadium before 7 a.m. First to pass their stand are the wheelchair racers, then the pro men and women runners and then amateur elites, who are too fast to try to stop.<\/p>\n
Soon, by about 8 a.m., there is a trickle of takers. And then the masses arrive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
David Winslow of Culver City partakes of a free chili cheese dog in the fifth mile of the L.A. Marathon in March 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just get mobbed,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople will try to grab them out of the hot vat. And I go, \u2018Back, back!\u2019 Like that’s when they get wild, and they don’t have common sense anymore and that’s [just] at Mile 5.”<\/p>\n