Real live race for me last week! I ran the Louisiana Marathon and it was glorious. My time less so, of course I went out too hard and crashed around mile 19. After feeling sorry for myself for a mile or two, a guy ran by and said "great day for a race, eh?" and I realized that it was, and I was racing, and people were cheering, and cops were stopping traffic for us and I was still headed to my first marathon finish in forever, and then I enjoyed my run/walk/slog the rest of the way. Went out at about 3:55 pace and finished in 4:15, so pretty epic fade with a  17 minute positive split (crossed the half at 1:58ish).

Great race, and I felt very safe. Masks require until after you crossed the start and again after the finish. The RD was on the loudspeaker before the race reminding everyone that the city was letting us race because of the rules, so if we want races to continue, follow the rules. He even called out people he saw not wearing them over the loudspeaker to get them to put the on. Many corrals (A through I, I think), with cones spread 5 across and 6 feet apart in each corral. You kept your spacing as your corral moved forward (I was in D). A guy with a green flag stood at the start line raising and lowering the flag, and each time he raised it a row of 5 would start, everyone else moved forward one row of cones. I actually liked it better than a normal start, because there was no crowd at the start, you could run your race immediately and not have to weave around other people. You could run the tangents and not worry about getting stuck on the outside of a pinwheel around a corner. But there were still plenty of people around to make it feel like a race. Here's a photo I grabbed off their website that shows how the start worked:

Ran the Red Mountain 55k. Lots of climbing (4,100 ft vert) and way too hot for my liking. Started at 45 degrees and finished at 80.  Took it easy for the first half and then dropped the hammer. Finished almost 35 miles in 5:59:54 and 12th male. Had tons of energy and didn't eat much. Drank a ton of water.

Thanks for sharing some photos!