Here’s What Happened When Nike Shut Down A Major LA Freeway For A 10K Run

California.

It’s home to Hollywood. The Kardashians. Palm trees.

It’s also home to some of the worst traffic… ever. Statistically, the city of Los Angeles has the most traffic congestion in the entire world, a record it has stubbornly held for the past six years. It’s the kinda traffic that makes Punt Rd on a gloomy Monday morning look a dream.

That’s why when Nike shut down the 90 Freeway, one of the most clogged thruways in the city, and let 10,000 eager runners take back the streets for Go Day, it made headlines.

if u zoom in really close u can see us wheezing

It was a bloody big deal. The last time the 90 had been shut down for a sporting event was the 1984 Olympics.

PEDESTRIAN.TV sent Lifestyle Editor Lucinda Price (me, I am writing this) over to the States to capture the entire ting, and clearly some form of God was clearly looking down upon the city that day because the scenes, weather and vibes were glorious:

(We even had the MVP of gymnastics, Simone Biles, at the starting line encouraging us before we set sail.)

A raft of other Aussie adventurers, including actor Lincoln Younes, lifestyle blogger and Culture Machine creative Kathleen Ebbs and ultra-marathon queen Bec Wilcock came along for the ride:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh4pqzUhUEZ/?taken-by=iamlincolnyounes

The next day we did some active recovery with Nike LA running coach Blue Benadum taking us for a spin around a typical ‘Murican high school athletics track (the urge to listen to some Taylor Swift on the bleachers has never been stronger).

On the off chance our extremities hadn’t yet fully animorphed into jelly, we headed over to the iconic Santa Monica Stairs for some savage stair climbs. 170 wooden steps make up the butt-busting incline that’s frequented by fitness fanatics and a-listers alike.

Make it to the top and you can continue on along a street that looks like Wisteria Lane, ending with a killer view of the ocean. It ain’t a freeway, but it’s pretty darn epic all the same.

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