This marathon could be greatly improved by three simple things, all having to do with the start.
1. Start the ract on time. This year's race was 30 minutes late. Really sloppy managment.
2. Schedule the race to start earlier, at 7am instead of 8:45. What's the matter? People in LA can't get up that early?
3. Straighten out the first several miles of the course. With a field of 23,000 runners they had several 90 degree turns in the first 2 miles of the course. Bad idea.

The late start was egregious. Why not wait until noon - at least it will start getting cooler at some point. The course was fine, but there was little shade. Also, for those of us towards the back, the vast majority of Gatorade stations had nothing but water. The spectators were good, but no more enthusiastic as those at other marathons. In its defense, plenty of water and plenty of support.

What a major disappointment after all the hype. The late start. Runners and walkers simultaneously. The flat course with four of the last five miles uphill and can I fail to mention the wonderful refreshments for finishing. The coup de grace was spending two full hours trying to find my wife at the conclusion. L.A. might be #2 in size but they're far down the ladder in this one. I did '97 and it was much better all around. With as many marathons competing for participants, this is the farewell to this one.

I totally agree with the prior comments about the Bike Tour. It prevents an earlier start to the marathon, and is a lame excuse for making money. Billboards around town tout it as if it's a grueling event that requires stamina. Anyone who seriously rides bikes knows this is not true. It takes nothing to ride that distance non-competitively. It is an event that former Mayor Riorden used as a political booster. And now on hot days, us marathoners pay the price with the late start. It's bad enough that the start area is one big mess, with multitudes of obviously much slower runners clogging the front of the pack. A late start to an already late starting time, a narrower starting area, it was all bad. And I'm not even going to mention the finish area...This is my hometown run, but I'm embarrassed by it all.

I run marathons because I enjoy the competition and the joy of setting a PR. It is obvious that the organizers could care less about people like me:
1. The race starts close to 9 a.m. - ridiculous in a warm area like L.A. Rock n Roll in San Diego starts at 7 a.m.
2. Aside from the invited athletes, there is one large corral packed with people. No organization whatsoever regarding placing runners in appropriate spots. This leads to downright dangerous conditions when you have sub 6-7 min/mile runners standing behind 250 lb walkers and grandmothers, etc. It is a joke. I've seen plenty of people falling and many close calls.
3. The new start is even worse than the other race starts because it is a narrow bridge. There were so many people packed in that men and women were urinating off the bridge (a truly disgusting sight) and against buildings.
4. Race organizers say 'the chip' solves all. B.S. - it shaves off the time it takes to reach the starting line, but does nothing to make up for the time lost in traffic jams that lay ahead for miles. And you should have seen the lines to the john both before and during the race.
5. Too many damn people. The organizers are greedy it seems. Do they really need to do a bike tour and do they really need 23,000 runners when they can barely handle half that amount? They don't even give money to charity with all this money; instead, charities are allowed to be associated with the marathon and try to raise money on their own.
Please organizers, learn from well organized races like Chicago, San Diego and Boston (to name a few) so that L.A. becomes a real race. Limit registration, start earlier, organize the start and get rid of the bike tour. It is obvious that competitive runners avoid your race when a 3 hr race gets you into the top 100 in a 23,000 participant race.

This was my second marathon, and having had a wonderful experience at the Suzuki Rock 'n Roll in San Diego last June, was expecting more of the same. I was wrong. Even without the late start (9:15), 8:45 still seems a bit late given Southern California weather. I was unimpressed by the corporate sponsorship. The Gatorade ran out after about mile 10, and the 'Clif-Shot' gel was almost non-existant. I found that I relied most on the wonderful fans and their orange wedges, bananas, and ice chips. The clocks were few and far between, and I did not even notice one at the start. A half-mile marker would have been nice before the finish, and there needed to be way more room at the finish area. I am from the area, and I know LA can do much better than this!

This marathon was the most unorganized marathon I have ever been a part of. The organization was at an all time low. The post race party was a bust, the finish area was a complete mess, the merchandise was crap and the course mostly sucked because it was boring and uphill. The city of Los Angeles has so much to offer but we ran through some boring areas that lacked interest. Whoevers decision it was to start this race at 9:20 needs to have his brain examined (or lack of brain)! It was hot as hell out there and everyone was getting sick and dehydrated. This race next year needs to be started at 7:00 am and also needs to be run on a course with less hills down the stretch and also with some scenery to look at. Wake up organizers!! I flew from Cincinnati, Ohio to run in this race and was disappointed. If the stories are true that the race ran out of medals once I finished this crappy course...there would have been a second LA riot. Never again will I run this race again under the current organization.

2002 was absolute proof that this race starts too late. The 8:45 start, coupled with the 30+ min. delay, had thousands running during the hottest portions of an extremely hot day. LA always has the potential of being hot, and it seems as if the organizers would take this into consideration. I believe one of the reasons for the late start is the Bike Tour. Is there a reason for the Bike Tour other than to make money? Sure, there are those who will defend it's existence, but isn't this supposed to be THE marathon? No other major marathon tries to incorporate an event the size of the Bike Tour on the same day. Perhaps it should have it's own day. As I was baking in the sun, waiting endlessly for the gun to go off for the start of the marathon, I questioned the validity of having a 'non-competitive' bike event, which is no great physical feat, decrease my chances of a PR. I hope the organizers look closer at Chicago, New York, Boston, London, and so many other great marathons - this one runs shy.

This was my first marathon and perhaps I shouldn't have spoiled myself by running half marathons in beautiful locales such as Palm Springs, San Luis Obispo and Huntington Beach in preparation over the last few months. I am an L.A. native but you never truly get the feel for a neighborhood until you run through it. I must say that I was not impressed with running through Downtown L.A., South Central L.A., Pico/Union and Downtown L.A. all over again. But, I'm a big boy and I should've scrutinized the course more closely before picking this as my first marathon. If I sound like a snob, it is only because I am truly inspired by beautiful surroundings, whether it is the desert and mountains of Palm Springs, the rolling hills and ocean of San Luis Obispo or the beachside courses run in Huntington Beach. It truly helps me overachieve while running through these sections of L.A. contributed to an overall lack of interest that when combined with the heat had me missing my mark by 40 minutes and not caring much about it. Finished in just over 5.5 hours and couldn't wait to get out of L.A. and return to my hometown Pasadena.

This was my seventh running of the LA Marathon. I always enjoy the LA marathon, but this year a few things need commenting on. 1) The start: After parking in a $7 parking lot (that was advertised not to exceed $5), we followed other runners hoping that they knew which way to go. There were no posted directions to the start line. Once there my friend and I muscled through the very tightly packed crowd to get toward the front of the line. If you needed to 'visit' the toilet, forget it. You had to swim up stream through a thick crowd of runners just to be able to find them. Once again, this is a case of not being well marked (all puns aside). 2) The start line was packed like sardines. The street seemed narrower than previous starts. Much more crowded than when the race began on Figueroa. 3) I can understand the late start if security was the issue, however the first miles leading through the 2nd Street tunnel were worse than peak rush hour on the 405 fwy! I was having fender benders/whiplash with many of the other runners. It seemed that the course leading up to the tunnel was extremely narrow for that amount of runner/walkers.

The new course was less hilly than the previous one, but the lack of shade seemed very noticeable. Even more so due to the heat factor.

As usual, the spectator support was incredible and helped me forge on through the heat. My last gripe is with the finish line. I was handed a bag with a Gatorade bar and (one more) bottle of water. 26.2 miles of heated running and that's what you get! Also, the finish area was again packed to the max. No place to sit/stand in any shade. The reunion area needs work.

One last observation... When we returned to our car, the sign on the parking lot announced it was now only $5 to park all day!!!

I know it can't be easy to put on an event of this size with every detail exactly in place. However, if nothing else these items should be considered for next year. Why can't we finish in a larger area...a park or even the Staples parking lot? Maybe next year...