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City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) Runner Comments
Back to City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon) Information & Reviews
Course 3.8 
Organization 3.6 
Spectators 4.4
Number of comments: 473 [displaying comments 131 to 141]
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Robert Page from California
(3/22/2010)
"An unforgettable, life-changing experience." (about: 2010)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon. I thought to myself, "I must be crazy to run 26.2 miles." Well, I did it. I let my family, encouragements, life experiences, and compassion for others be my motivation and strength, which gave me the determination to fight through the mental weakness and physical pain to finish the race. It was another one of those life-changing experiences.... :o) | |
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N. W. from Anywhere, USA
(3/22/2010)
"Good one-time race" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The stadium-to-sea course was very nice and fast, with the major hills in the first third and the last third largely downhill. Would have liked to see snacks provided during the latter part of the race, not just water and gatorade. I was running on low near the end, but luckily brought along a couple of power bars. Both the expo and race day were not very well organized, not very many signs directing where to pick up bibs or where to line up before the race. Traffic was horrendous with a two-hour shuttle ride (provided by the race) to go just 15 miles to the start. Definitely need to leave EARLY for this one. This is a race to run once, but nothing memorable to warrant a repeat unless you live in the LA area. | |
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G. C. from Los Angeles, CA
(3/22/2010)
"Not fast great course, logistics need improvement" (about: 2010)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 My 5th marathon and 2nd LA marathon. Course: The course is better than last year from a touristic perspective, ie it shows much more the classic LA, with many landmarks (Dodger Stadium, Downtown, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Santa Monica; not quite every mile as they said, but close). The course also avoids the bleak areas that have plagued the courses from the previous years. That said, from a running perspective this is not an easy course. The overall net downhill is misleading because if you take out the 3 big downhills after Dodger Stadium (mile1), San Vicente (mile 14), and San Vicente (miles23-25), it is rolling hills from miles 2-13, with hard climbs at miles 3 and 5, and this takes a toll, leading to very fatigued runners once you reach the easy part (miles 16-26.2). There is also a nasty little climb before mile 21 that cut many people's legs. So don't expect a PR, or if you want to you will need to work hard on the hills during your training. Organization: Big improvement needs to be done on the organization. I can't understand how people could give out 5 marks here. This was an overall logistical nightmare. The expo was smallish, cramped, and very warm (under tents on a parking lot at Dodger Stadium). Many people got their age wrong on their bibs, while their age was correct in the system. Getting to the start at Dodger Stadium was a nightmare, as all the access ways were clogged due to (1) the convergence of thousands of vehicles to only two entry points and (2) streets closures in downtown and around the stadium. I ended up being dropped 1.7 miles from the start and had to walk all the way up. There were people getting off vehicles who started walking on the 110 Freeway ! Many people arrived late, and as a consequence the start had to be pushed by ½ hour. At the stadium there were not enough port-a-johns and starting corrals were not strictly enforced (saw many people jumping the sub-4hour corral where I was placed). The organization on the course itself was excellent, with well-stocked aid stations and great volunteers; however, there were no gels, only liquids, so bring your owns. Another issue with the organization came from the fact that many people did not get their time recorded properly. This was maybe due to the new B-tag system attached to the bibs, instead of the classical chips or D-tags attached to shoes. The finish line was very crowded and it was hard to find family and friends. I did not go down to the beach party so can't comment there. However the medal was awesome; much better than the shirt, which could have used some of the design. Spectators: great support throughout; fun to see the drag queens in WeHo, and the cheerleaders in Brentwood were deafening. Some pretty funny signs too (at mile 5: the Kenyans are already at mile 15 !). Overall great . In conclusion it is a finally a great destination marathon in Los Angeles for out-of-towners and also for locals because the course is very scenic and shows most of what LA has to offer, but don't expect a PR, or you will need to work very hard at it. But they need to work out the logistical kinks, because there were too many of those this year. | |
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D. B. from Orange County, California
(3/22/2010)
"Lack of Organization at Start and Finish" (about: 2010)
50+ previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 Yes, the point to point course is a good idea, but the organization and logistics were completely mishandled. You cannot allow anyone to drop runners off at the Stadium...runners must take the shuttles to avoid 1-1/2 to 2 hour shuttle rides since the traffic was so awful getting into the Stadium parking lot, due to people dropping off runners. We noticed that getting on the shuttles was easy...we found out why later; more than half of the runners were getting dropped off. Having the way too few port-a-potties on the wrong side of the course (so runners had to run across the wheelchair and elite women's first mile), no access to the four hours plus corral except at the end of the chute (after waiting in line for bathrooms for thirty minutes; by the way even though the Stadium first level was open, the bathroom lines were even worse in there), a half hour late start, running the first mile in the parking lot... The course itself after than was interesting and very well supported by the volunteers and spectators...no complaints there. But there were more hills than advertised. The last five miles or so in Santa Monica all the way to the finish were very nice. Lastly, once you finished, you were thrust into an area way too crowded with people not even connected to the marathon...having to walk half way up the pier through the tourists, down to the sand and then across to the 'finish party' which was just more booths like at the too small expo did not consider the needs of the runners to decompress for at least a few minutes. And the traffic for those picking up people in Santa Monica was a mess. These things can be fixed since the course and race itself is OK, but get a company that knows how to put on a large running event and that tries to get more runners' inputs. | |
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K. C. from San Diego, CA
(3/22/2010)
"Not impressed" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 This was my 24th marathon but first LA. Expo - After sitting in the car in traffic for hours I finally got to the Expo and then waited in a line for another hour in the heat. When I picked up my bib I was told they ran out of T-shirts. I had a feeling this was a sign of things to come so I knew I had to get to Dodger Stadium early the next day. Before race - I took the 4:00 a.m. shuttle and had no problems getting to the stadium. Well, I hope not at 4:00 a.m.!! Thank goodness I arrived early because many runners said that they witnessed some people getting out of their cars on the interstate to get to the start. I was in the sub 4 corral and had a blue wrist band to prove it (why not just go by the bib#??) but never found the special corral. I was smashed like a sardine way behind the 4:00 hour pacers. The race started about 25 minutes late. Race - I found myself passing walkers the first mile and didn't realize there would be so many steep hills. I don't mind the uphills but the downhills were too steep for a marathon in my opinion. My quads were thrashed by mile 6. I should have been more familiar with the course and will take credit for that. The crowd support at the beginning was sparse and the course was quite boring. However, it really picked up around Hollywood and I was very impressed the last 6 miles of the course. I was really hurting and I appreciated the encouragement. Finish line festivities - No comment because I ran past the finish line and went straight to my hotel. I wanted out of LA as fast as I could. This was not a horrible marathon - it was just not what I was expecting from a large city and all of the hoopla. | |
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J. Z. from Moses Lake, WA
(3/22/2010)
"Awesome" (about: 2010)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon and thought the course and oganization was great. The spectators really pulled me through the last 5 miles.... Awesome support!!! I'm from Spokane, WA and plan to make this a yearly event! Thank you to LA for some great memories. | |
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G. G. from Los Angeles, CA
(3/22/2010)
"Much improved, but needs a little work" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Los Angeles has a new course that is much, much better than the old one, starting at Dodger Stadium and ending in Santa Monica. That alone is reason to give this race another look. However, the expo, held in the enormous Dodger Stadium parking lot, was crammed into a little space the size of a matchbox. It was really ridiculous... hot and crowded and unpleasant. There is no excuse for this with so much space available. Also, the shuttlebus/parking system was a mess, causing a delay in the start of the race. This race needs much better organization. On the other hand, excellent crowd support and a nice, rockin' finish line festival. | |
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M. V. from Orange County
(3/22/2010)
"New Ownership Disaster" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 The New management of the LA Marathon is SO BAD that I will never enter this race again. I heard this sentiment over and over all weekend. I've run 4 LA Marathons and over 20 marathons total, this one was by far the worst ever. We arrived at the EXPO on Saturday to pick up our bibs and the line was an hour long, standing in 91 degree direct sun. Once we were able to get into the tent there were errors on our bibs and they had run out of shirts. (Did they not know how many people had entered the race?) The logistics of the race were terrible. It was a point to point course, but they wouldn't allow people to leave their cars at the start. What, not enough parking at Dodger Stadium? The race started 30 minutes late because they couldn't get everyone to the start. Two of my biggest disappointment with the course were that they didn't have fuel on the course. Considering my entry fee I would think the could have found a fuel sponsor. The other was the run through West Hollywood. This is a premier event for SRLA and having all of these kids run through what was basically a pornographic exhibition was totally inappropriate. These people have chosen a lifestyle that isn't consistent with healthy living and forcing these kids be exposed to it is wrong. Finally the logistics at the finish was the biggest disaster. Traffic was complete gridlock getting out of Santa Monica. Again, since it was a point to point course parking was a disaster and the ability to get back to the start was challenge. If they are going to do this course again they need to completely rethink the start and finish logistics. I would suggest that the owners of this race need to completely rethink their strategy if they want to have anyone return to this race. I for one will not. | |
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D. B. from San Francisco, CA
(3/22/2010)
"Great Experience" (about: 2010)
50+ previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The LA Marathon staff, volenteers, and spectators did a fantastic job at this years (revised) marathon. The race course was much more hilly than I expected but the wonderful scenery helped make the miles pass. The organization was first rate and the crowds ranked right up there with those in New York and Chicago. Truly a great Marathon experience...one I will seek again next year!! | |
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P. P. from Edge of the universe - Fresno, CA
(3/22/2010)
"Stadium-to-Pier Course is Outrageously Cool" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The location of the expo and the start at Dodger Stadium created some logistical difficulties. But, the race is a total winner - from organization, to course, to fan support. It turned out to be a harder course to run than my previous LA Marathons - there is net elevation loss, but there are also hills throughout. While they added a sub-3 and sub-4 starting area, there need to be more starting corrals. I loved the sights along the way. It was warm at the start of the race - but around mile 22, the coolness of the ocean breeze made the run beautiful! I received an email saying that registration for next year starts soon. Count me in - I want to run this race again! |
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