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May 4, 2024

Long Beach Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Long Beach Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.0

Organization 3.6

Spectators 3.5

Number of comments: 240 [displaying comments 51 to 61]

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ginger lassy from Los Angeles (10/20/2009) "Very Exciting" (about: 2009) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Long Beach Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This mostly flat course presented me the opportunity to run a personal record and qualify for the Boston Marathon. I did both! It was my 51st marathon and I have to say that it was a fabulous experience. Thank you, Long Beach. - Ginger Lassy
g. m. from riverside, ca (10/20/2009) "Too crowded" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Long Beach Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I agree with the comments regarding the congestion. The congestion began on the freeway, where it took more than 40 minutes to travel the last one and a half miles to my prepaid parking spot. I arrived at the start line area and then waited another 35 minutes to use the restrooms. I was planning to run in the second wave, but wasn't able to find my way to the actual start line until the back end of the fourth wave. Perhaps a better wave idea would be to start the marathon 15, 30 or 60 minutes before the half. As was mentioned earlier, many of the pathways were very narrow considering the size of the crowd. I think a high number of new runners are using half-marathons as an "entry-level" event, and that's great, but many really don't know how to select the proper start wave. It seemed like I was constantly trying to avoid (apparently novice) walkers for the first several miles.
J. S. from USA (10/19/2009) "Hills? What Hills?" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Long Beach Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 People, people... San Francisco has hills; Antarctica has hills. Long Beach does not have "hills." We are marathon runners, for goodness' sake; a marathon is not supposed to be "easy."
P. H. from Ontario, CA (10/18/2009) "Not 80% ocean view - too much boring city street!" (about: 2009) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Long Beach Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 After running the CARA (Chicago Area Running Association) 20-miler along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline and museums two weeks before, Long Beach's mostly asphalt, boring neighborhood street race was a definite letdown! The worst part was passing the 22nd mile marker on the other side of the street, while I was only at Mile 16! This up/back stretch was way too long! Yes, start the marathon first. You would not believe how clear the course was after the half-marathoners split! And please, walk/runners, keep to the side! I had to constantly dodge and almost fall on top of runners who stopped almost dead in front of me to do their walk sequence.
M. W. from Irvine, CA (10/16/2009) "Love for Long Beach Marathon!" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Long Beach Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This marathon offers a great course overall. It's got lots of ocean views and pretty cool spots, and it's generally flat, though a few hills and cement stretches keep it from being excellent. The post-race party is also great; it's pretty well organized, with good variety and types of snacks, and a fantastic massage. There is also an amazing sand structure built right at the end, but due to the set-up, runners are prevented from going back to take pics of it... and to think that, right after finishing 26.2, we would have the thought or camera to take a pic of it is silly. So I would say that it is a big drawback of the post-race organization. The pre-race is also fine, but with the way the barricades are set up, it is hard to get to the various areas like gear check or potties. Spectators were pretty good, especially in the miles through CSULB - what a great crowd! Signs, cheering, high fives - the best part of the course for support! Also, along the whole route there was adequate water and PowerAde, and a good supply of GU and bathrooms. Overall, close to a perfect score for this race - just a few adjustments needed here and there in each major area, but it's quite doable and enjoyable.
Kyle EricSon from Riverside, CA (10/16/2009) "Pretty Much Just a Half-Marathon Now" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ Long Beach Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Unfortunately I have to agree with one of the other reviewers in that this race is now pretty much designed and geared towards the half-marathon crowd. This year there were only 3,400 in the full marathon, while over 11,000 ran the half. This year the organizers promised wave starts, so I was hoping that the full marathon would go before any of the half got to start (like Surf City), but that was not the way they did it. Instead, the two groupings were started in waves based upon your projected finishing times (e.g., 4:00-hour full with 2:00-hour half, etc.). Although this was preferable to simply starting all 15,000 runners at once, it did little to ease the congestion on the course, especially during the last couple of miles when many of the "larger" half-marathoners were reduced to walking and did not stay on their side of Ocean Blvd. Other than that small complaint though, I still love this race and wish that there were more full marathoners interested in running it.
J. B. from Salt Lake City, Utah (10/15/2009) "Mixed Feelings" (about: 2009) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Long Beach Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The course: It is advertised as "flat and fast," but I certainly didn't think so. How are multiple bridges, rolling hills, and a college campus built into the side of a hill "flat?" It was a killer! It was also way too packed! At one point you're on the beach (for a couple of miles), on a walkway wide enough for four people only - except with thousands of runners! There was no way to move through them or run your pace. To be honest, I'm not a fan of this course at all. There were two good things though: First, there were lots of open areas around the course for spectators! There was easy access for them. Second, there were some beautiful views of the ocean, the bay, and the city - especially from atop all of those hills and bridges you climb. I guess there is a third thing, too. The course is easily accessible via the Long Beach metro. It's just a short walk away. Organization: The packet pickup and expo were well organized. The aid stations were heavily stocked and volunteers were wonderful! No complaints on that. The only thing on organization that was off, and the reason they get four stars instead of five, is the bag drop. It was simple to use and find except that, after the race, you couldn't get your bag and return to the festivities, as the bag drop was outside of the finish area! That was silly. I had my recovery drink in my bag, but they told me that, if I went to get it, there would be no re-entry. Thankfully my buddy had an extra recovery packet. Spectators: They were great! The signs, the food, and the encouragement were all topnotch! Just excellent! It never got lonely on the course. Run again? Probably not. If they had marked the course honestly as, "Yes, we have various hills throughout," then I might consider running it again. I would have done more hill training and wouldn't have had any issues about their course. But I feel like it was falsely advertised to attract runners. I might be wrong though. Maybe most runners do consider it flat? Either way, as it stands, I probably wouldn't run it again. All of that being said, I still had a wonderful time. It was an awesome experience and, as bitter as my review might sound about the course, I'm really not bitter. I am happy that I went and did it, and I had a great time doing so. :)
d. L. from Riverside,Ca. (10/15/2009) "love to run" (about: 2009) 2 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The Long Beach course is nice, with a few more hills than I believed would be there. The spectators and volunteers were great. The finish area was a little small and crowded. There is ONE thing that I wish organizers would do - not only at Long Beach but other large races. Would you please send the marathoners out before the halfers? Since there are fewer of us, it would not be that big of a deal. It might encourage more marathoners.
M. G. from Anaheim, CA (10/13/2009) "25th anniversary, and a little too successful" (about: 2009) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Long Beach Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 What a great turnout this year - maybe a little too good. I ran the this race last year and don't remember it being as congested as this year. And this year there was a wave start. The prepaid parking was a great idea and I took advantage of it, leaving home around 5:15 and pulling into Lot 7 by 6:00. I was at the race start by 6:15, only to be confronted by ginormous porta-potty lines. By the time I got my turn and headed to the start line, it was 6:50. By then, there was no chance of getting up to wave 1 where I wanted to be and had to settle for the back of wave 3. The miles leading up to the bike path (1-5) were crowded, but with some weaving you could move ahead. By the time we got to the bike path, it was no longer feasible to weave. Things didn't open up until the half/full split after mile 10. The rest of the race was fine, but I was feeling stressed because I had lost so much time in the first part of the race because I could not run my goal pace due to congestion. I narrowly missed a PR by one minute, but I felt I could have done much better had I been able to run faster in the early miles. The weather was pretty good: Around 64 degrees at start and overcast for the entire race. Fan support was good and it was nice again to run through CSULB. Drink stations were excellent, and well stocked with great volunteers. The post-race party was also good, with no real complaints, unless you were one of the unlucky ones to not get a medal because they eventually ran out. I have one suggestion for the "wave" start. Frankly, I was in more congestion this year in wave 3 than I was in last year when there was no wave start. If this race continues to grow or even sustain its current number of participants, we need to have smaller waves, have a true five minutes between waves, and start the race earlier, say 6:30, to accommodate the extra waves. That would really help make this marathon a world-class event. The bike path on the beach simply cannot sustain the number of concurrent runners that were there this year because each wave had too many folks. Overall, a great race to run, with super volunteers and good organization. I hope to be back next year.
B. M. from Orange County, CA (10/13/2009) "Well-organized race, good BQ choice" (about: 2009) 3 previous marathons \| 2 Long Beach Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This is my fourth marathon and my second time running Long Beach (I did the half in 2007). I was hoping to qualify for Boston, and I did, so I'm a happy camper. Overall, it's very well-organized. There were lots of porta-potties, and great post-race food. The cupcake at the finish was a nice touch, though my stomach was far too upset to even think about eating it. Spectator support is thin in areas but was great at Cal State Long Beach - thanks to all of the students out there cheering! The pros: 1) Very flat course. I have no idea what the person who made comments about the course being hilly is talking about. There are a couple of small, short hills around the CSLB part of the course, and a short hill around mile 21 or so, but nothing really challenging. Most of the course is pancake-flat. 2) Great course to try for Boston. The 3:40 pace group was right on target, and the nice, flat course and great weather combined to make it a perfect BQ race. 3) Great parking this year. The pre-reserved parking was a breeze. 4) Traffic was not bad if you plan ahead. Don't take the 710 into Long Beach if you can help it. The Long Beach Blvd. or Atlantic exits off of the 405 take you right up to the course and there was absolutely no traffic. 5) Nice technical t-shirt. 6) Nice finisher's medal. Cons: 1) The wave starts were messy. I was trying to run with the 3:40 pace group and got to the start line 10 minutes before the start and had to literally shove my way through an insanely packed crowd and just barely made it near the group. There also were people who clearly started in a wave that was wrong for them and were difficult to dodge in the first few congested miles. 2) PowerAde. That stuff is nasty and some of it needed to have been diluted more. Some random spectators on the course were giving out Gatorade, and several runners near me commented how much better the Gatorade tasted compared to PowerAde. 3) They should think about starting the half-marathon after the marathon. With walkers on the course already, the narrow bike path made it difficult to maintain your pace while trying to dodge slower runners/walkers. Starting the half-marathon a half-hour after the marathon might help relieve some of the congestion in those early miles. 4) Charging $10 for expo parking. They force us to come get our bibs in advance; why charge us to have to park to do it? For any Long Beach or OC residents, I highly recommend doing the ICR Beach Runner training program. Not only do you get specific training for the LB Marathon, but also on race day, the Beach Runners had a great tent area right by the finish line, complete with a massage therapist, porta-potties just for the group, and lots of post-race goodies. That made it such an enjoyable experience! And it was great to see other beach runners out there on the course. Thanks to all of the ICR Beach Runner coaches.

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