If the city's bid is successful, the trials will be held here to determine which U.S. marathoners go to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Yes, that means back-to-back marathons. As a plan, it's ambitious, unpredictable — Marathon-ageddon? — and kind of exciting. We think USA Track and Field should go for it and Angelenos should put aside their fear of traffic for one weekend.

The cities that host the trials traditionally run them the day before their local marathons, so that's not unusual. They are two very different events. The L.A. Marathon will probably have 20,000-plus competitors running from Dodger Stadium to the Pacific Ocean, some straggling to the finish line hours after the winners. The Olympic trials would be held on a closed loop course in neighborhoods not affected by the L.A. Marathon, and would include a few hundred world-class runners who would all finish within minutes of one another. Men's and women's trials might run the same course with staggered start times. The appeal of holding the trials the day before the local marathon is that the city would be full of running enthusiasts, many of whom would presumably go to watch the trials.