Running in the rain was not a good idea. I felt worse than in my first marathon. Very poorly organized race. No one to help you give you your gear check. If you lose it, then good luck getting your car keys. Walking a mile after the race to the parking lot in rain that was just awful. You have to park at one end really early in the morning and take a shuttle to the start point. They need to organize the race better.

I have run 7 Los Angeles Marathons and have been through several course changes over those years. After last year's horrible organization at the start line, I almost decided not to run this year; however, I decided to give it one more try as I did enjoy the Stadium to Sea course once we finally got the race started last year.

The course makes for a fun run. Heading towards the Santa Monica Pier is much better than running the old, loop course that started and ended in downtown. I love running through Hollywood, Century City,
and the end along San Vicente - and Ocean Blvd. is great. There are some hills but there are several downhill portions that conduce to a faster race. Of course the weather wreaked havoc on us this year. It least the rain waited until we started the race, so we were dry while waiting. At times the rain was a torrential downpour, and my fingers were really cold. Once you accepted that we were going to be wet the whole race, it was actually kind of funny at how hard it rained and how wet everything was. The volunteers were great to stick it out and cheer us on. Hotels at the end of the race opened their doors to help runners warm up.

This year, the owners did a much better job of organizing the start of the race. It seemed that there were enough restrooms compared to the prior year, and traffic getting to the start line was not as bad as long as one left early enough. I like the corral start, but I would suggest structuring it more like the Chicago Marathon. Only have corrals through sub-4. I know several people who ran sub 3:30 marathons and were forced to start behind the sub-5 corral. This is frustrating for the faster runners and somewhat dangerous when they are trying to weave at the beginning of the race. Also, have restrooms inside the initial entrance to the corrals.

I think they will keep improving the race, and I would run it again.

Running (more like swimming) 26.2 in the rain was awesome!!! The L.A. Marathon is an amazing course that allows you to see the heart of the city. From downtown to West Hollywood to Santa Monica, there is no better way to experience the city. A lot of rolling hills but nothing major. Even with terrible weather conditions, the energy from spectators and volunteers was great. Organization however was an epic fail. The race failed to start on time, and the baggage claim was a disaster - a massive walk from the end of the course to the festival, and an additional walk to the parking lots. Rain or shine, an organization with its history should be better prepared for all weather conditions. Overall, a phenomenal COURSE with inadequate coordination.

The fan support was wonderful and made up for the rainy weather. Thank you, LA! I only wish that there were shuttles back to Dodgers Stadium.

The race was well organized. I had no problem getting on a bus from Santa Monica at 5 p.m. to go to the start at Dodger's stadium. At Dodger's stadium we were allowed to use the stadium bathrooms and sit in the ballpark seats while we waited. I couldn't find the food and drink at the start.

The race was slightly delayed (about 20 minutes), but the start went off okay after the delay at about 7:45 a.m. During the first mile I had to navigate my way around walkers (why can't the walker go to the back at the start!), but after that I was able to go the pace I wanted to go.

It rained a lot throughout the race, but at least it wasn't 80 degrees. I will take the rain and 50-degree weather over the heat.

There were spectators out on the course, but probably not as many as there would have been if it had been a nice day. The ones who were out there were plenty enthusiastic.

The course is a little hilly, but not too bad.

Overall, I would run this race again as I like the point-to-point course and it is close to home for me.

Nice expo with plenty of vendors. They could have spread the tents out more to avoid the congestion but packet pickup flowed smoothly. The hotel busses ran efficiently. It's nice that they opened the stadium to the runners to keep us somewhat out of the elements. Start time was delayed about 30 minutes to secure traffic on the course. By the time the elite women started to the general corral start, it was an hour past the official start time. They herded the corrals towards the start line DURING the playing of the national anthem. Bad taste. No crowd control at the different corrals so a lot or runners were in the wrong corrals. Had to pass so many walkers that I probably ran an extra mile zigzagging. Then we felt a sprinkling of rain. After a few minutes, the skies opened. The downpour continued the rest of the day. Almost got my eye poked out by a runner who lost control of his umbrella. Not sure why anyone would think carrying an umbrella on a marathon course with 30 mph winds would be the safest thing to do.

The actual course is scenic. Great tour of Los Angeles. Enthusiastic spectators braved the weather and were scattered all along the route. Course support was plentiful. Lots of water and Gatorade, even for the walkers. Even though there wasn't a Clif Gel station till mile 20, they had several orange stations and spectators passing out bananas/pretzels. Mile markers weren't at every mile. Well, maybe there were but I was too slow at a 10 minutes/mile pace to see them? It was raining side ways and a flash flood overtook several sections of the course. After the finish line, the food/water/photo areas were spaced out by a couple hundred yards.

Small opening at the end to fight through all of the family/friends. They were bunched up since they bypassed the reunion area. The finisher village/hotel shuttles were about 2 miles from the finish line. That's a long way to go after running 26 miles in the torrential rain and wind. There was only one little hotel shuttle sign by the finisher village exit. That made it harder to find the actual shuttle. All in all, I would run this again. The organizers just need to work out the little kinks.

For this year's marathon in rained so much that the volunteers started lining up the animals two-by-two. That said, it was one of the best courses I've run (out of 9). It had just the right amount of city and park, hills and vistas. The organization was lacking a bit at the end (bag claim was a nightmare), but I chalk that up to the fact that there was so much rain hampering the post-race festival. Spectators were sparse, but again, the rain might have had something to do with it. In any event, the spectators that WERE there were amazing, as were all the volunteers. One of my favorite races so far!

This is a GREAT race! Starts at Dodger's Stadium, ends at the beautiful Santa Monica pier. Fantastic LA landmarks all along the way. Run through different neighborhoods with all kinds of onlookers cheering you on! Pretty flat, with downhill the last few miles.

I came from Nashville to run this marathon. Was apprehensive after reading other comments over the years. Went to the expo on Friday and it was pretty simple. The walk through the parking lot was pretty nuts. Why have partcipants park so far from the expo? The goodie bag was probably the best I've ever received!

Race shirt was nice too!

Sunday, the shuttle was superb. I stayed at JW Marriott in LA and was delivered to the start quickly. Tons of porta potties and good rest place inside the stadium, lots of food...all great points to this race.

I was seeded to Corral B but the organization here was total crap. It was mass chaos with LA Runners trying to get into the seeded corrals. Here I was in Corral B with LA Runners group and a pacing sign saying 13:49 mile? Really ?? Whose decision was that? Nuts!! The race started about 17 minutes late too...and the conditions were miserable. 30 to 47 mph winds and 1 inch of rain that started at mile 3 and never quit.

The course was not too hard, I ran well considering the circumstances. Lots of great voluteers and waterstops. The gel hand out could've been sooner than in the 20 mile range though...I was just happy there was a hand out. The volunteers were such troopers in the conditions. I overheard tons of them saying so cold they were. I really appreciated them so much!

The finish line completely sucked. The wind off the ocean was so intense my abs are sore today from tucking in behind folks and drafting. At the finish there was zero crowd control and it took about 15 minutes to snake through the crowds! Something needs to be done about this!!

By the time I got to gear check, more chaos. I was number 5054 and in that POD, the bags were strewn everywhere. I looked for my bag for at least 20 minutes and finally gave up - losing two shirts, a hotel towel and a stick of body glide. There was 1 volunteer there who was trying to be helpful. But, seriously, why didn't someone line the bags up before the race finished? They had 3 hours or more to do this!! Ridiculous.

I had a good shuttle ride back but totally froze my rear off. My hands and legs were purple. Would've been nice to have my dry clothes...and would be even nicer if the race would contact me and mail them back.

Won't be back to this race. Hopeful the race organization will improve because it sounds like the same issues over and over.

The race had great entertainment throughout the course, and it also had a nice course.