Organization was grossly lacking in key areas. The first clue was at the expo where they had run out of many shirt sizes by midday Saturday. I suspected right then that race organization would be amateurish. My suspicions were unfortunately proven correct on race day.

Traffic planning and control at the start were an unqualified disaster (and the finish wasn't much better). Race corrals/pace groups were poorly marked (a real theme for the day). PowerAde and water were not clearly designated at aid stations. The info booth and family reunion area were not clearly marked at the finishing area. Runner tracking barely worked at all.

On the plus side, the spectators were terrific. I was thrilled that orange and banana slices were available at multiple locations (thanks so much!). The course is scenic, though a bit on the hilly side (i.e. not super fast).

I doubt I would run this again until I hear they've fixed these problems. A word of advice to organizers: it's hard to see signs that are at knee level.

I knew the minute I saw the expo setup that the race directors had no idea what 25,000 runners looked like - it was more like what you would have at a small to medium race. Keeping this in mind I left extra early on race morning, but I still spent 2 hours on the shuttle as traffic trying to get to the start was backed up for miles. Fortunately the start was delayed and I had just enough time to hit the restroom as the national anthem started. Hopefully all of these bugs will be worked out for 2011 because the course is awesome!

LOS ANGELES MARATHON 2010
' STADIUM TO THE SEA '
25Th ANNIVERSARY

This was Los Angeles Marathon #7 for this Ancient Marathoner - 1986, 87, 90, 07, 08, 09, 10.

This is my hometown marathon. So, I must do it every year that I can, regardless of the course, the weather, the ownership, or the time of year. I absolutely love this marathon. And, I plan on doing it in perpetuity.

Los Angeles 2010 was the celebratory 25th Anniversary running of the Los Angeles Marathon, of which I ran the inaugural back in 1986. In that maiden voyage of the L.A. Marathon 24 years ago, we had only 10,787 runners. This year 2010 we set a record at 26,054, of which 22,383 finished. I think that I paid about $10 or $15 for the 1986 inaugural, whereas the 2010 version cost in excess of $125.00

The 2010 version was fantastic because I got to run with numerous Marathon Maniacs, Runners World bloggers, members of the Fitzsimmons Clan, and other running pals. Pals to the left of me, pals to the right of me. I absolutely loved it. Also, running downhill into the cooling ocean breezes of Santa Monica during the last 3 miles was pure heaven - - to die for.

I have run 4 different course versions of the L.A. Marathon.
1. Coliseum to Coliseum 1986, 1987, 1990
2. Universal Studios to Downtown 2007, 2008
3. Downtown to Downtown 2009
4. Stadium to the Sea 2010

Stadium to the Sea: The new point-to-point route from the 'Stadium to the Sea'  Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Pier was the main draw, probably explaining the sell-out of 26,054. At first I was reluctant, but now I am a big fan of the new course.

Very scenic route starting at Elysian Park and Sunset Blvd. at Dodger Stadium, taking in the sights of Chavez Ravine, Echo Park, Downtown L.A., Silver Lake, Hollywierd, West Hollywierder, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood (UCLA), Brentwood, Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean.

Misinformation was a problem:. We were told that the hotels would shuttle the guests to the EXPO. Not true. Our Hotel told us to hire a taxi  more bad information.

As it turned out, for a mere $1.25, we could take a 9-minute bus ride on the #2-bus along Hill Street to the Dodger Stadium Expo on Saturday. That was cheaper than a taxi and more convenient than taking the Red/Gold Line trains to Chinatown and walking from there.

More misinformation: We were told that the course was basically all downhill or flat after mile 7. Well, that was definitely not true. No way. What was their problem? Don't they trust us with the truth? I don't mind a hilly course. But, please, don't mislead me by saying that it is a flat course after 6 miles when it most definitely is not.

Porta-Potty Follies: I rarely use the port-a-potties. I am not the type of runner who is into waiting 20 minutes in line to take a leak. A bush, a tree, a trash can  that's all I need. But for the first time in my long career of racing, I was harassed by a police officer for taking a leak behind a row of dumpsters. Now, what was that all about? Obviously, the local constable was not a runner.

Race Delay: The race was delayed by 20 minutes because of the massive traffic jams on the freeways ( the 10, the 110, and the 101 ). Heck, we all had timing chips. Why not start the race on time at 7:25am, and let the late-comers cross the starting mat when they arrive. If nothing else, that would have thinned out the long trail of 26,000 runners. As it turned out, I finally did cross the Start line at 8:00am sharp, 13 minutes after the belated gun (7:47am).

Transportation: My advice for next year, L.A. 2011, is for the Race Director to promote public transportation and all of its wondrous options. Most of the runners were not aware of the trains and buses that were available. There should be a major campaign educated the runners to the metro, the bus, and driving strategies. Also, ban all dropoffs at the starting line. It was the families driving into Dodger Stadium that caused the major freeway tie-ups. No Drop offs in 2011.

The Expo: The Expo was not to my liking. It was outdoors, and too darn hot. Much, much too crowded. My Gawd, Frank McCourt, you have the huge Stadium parking lot. Why in the heck were we crammed into one small section like a pack of sardines. You own the whole darn Stadium, use it.

T-Shirts: T-shirts were all the same size regardless of what you ordered. The men's were too big and the women's were too small. No matter, since I rarely wear their shirts anyway. Besides, they were double ugly. But I know that many runners truly prize their t-shirts. I definitely miss the L.A. Convention Center of the past few years. Those Expos were great. Return to the Downtown Convention Center Expo in 2011.

The Masses: Crowding on the course was not to my liking. Too many runners on narrow streets for the entire 26.2 miles. ////// Too many walkers. Too many walkers strolling 3 and 4 abreast. Too many walkers on cell phones. Too many walkers goofing. San Francisco, New York and other major marathons will split the pack with alternate streets. Los Angeles should try doing the same.

Corrals: Lack of Corrals or Waves was not to my liking. The sub-3 hour and sub-4 hour marathoners got a corral. But that was it for corrals. Chicago had 39 corrals and I think that NYC had even more than that. So, what was the problem with L.A.

Shuttling: Shuttling was not to my liking. L.A. traffic lived up to its negative rep. Runners getting out of their cars on the freeway in order to leg it to the Start was quite a sight. But it was also extremely dangerous. Runners should not be put into such a dangerous position. The Start was delayed by 20 minutes due to these shuttling inadequacies.

Pace Groups: What about Pace Groups? I don't remember seeing a Pace booth at the Expo. And, I did not see one pace group on the course. I thought that all big-time marathons had pace groups. Apparently, from what I have been told, there were pace groups. But I sure as heck didn't see them.

B-Tag Timing Chips: The new B-Tag had me worried from the get-go. Fortunately, I had no problem. But a number of runners had their Tags malfunction. Some conked out at the 10-K mark, others at the 30-K mark, and some never did click on. On the other hand, my friend Richard Oberlin was taken to the hospital at Mile 19, therby ending his race. But somehow he was listed as a finisher at 5:47:00. As far as I am concerned, bring back old reliable, the original circular, hard chip of a few years ago .

Bibs: Then, what about the Bibs? Well, SNAFU all the way. My Bib said that I was 38 years old. Yeah, I was back in 1981. One of my running partners had her number overlapped by her name. And, the beat goes on.

Tangents: My Garmin read 26.44 at the Finish Line. That pleasantly surprised me since I was constantly manuevering around walkers and strollers. Cutting the tangents wasn't always easy. Ergo, 26.44 was pretty darn good. In the last two Chicago Marathons, I clocked 26.75 miles. Of course, I had to constantly manuever around 40,000 runners.

My Biggest Complaint: My biggest complaint was the 4 or 5 analgesic spray stations. Each time I passed these nuissance stops, I had to cover my face due to the analgesic spray mist that would burn my eyes and lungs. And, I was often on the opposite side of the road. I can only imagine how those who were getting sprayed were being affected.

Finish Line: I was very impressed with the Finish Line, and the long walk to the Don Francisco Reception Area. Walking 2/3 mile to Colorado Blvd and then down to the Reception was a fantastic and healthy way to cool down. The Area itself was spacious. And we had the option to go lay in the sand if so inclined. Or even jump into the Pacific Ocean. Food-wise, the volunteers handed out full bags of bagels, bananas and fruit cups. I love bagels and bananas, so I was a happy man.

Hotels: I chose to stay the weekend Downtown at the Omni Hotel (Olive & 3rd ). I had been vacillating between staying in Santa Monica near the Finish or in Downtown L.A. near the Start. But now I know that I made the correct decision. The Downtown hotels shuttled us to the Dodger Stadium Start Line. Yet, even if they didn't, we were less than 2 miles from the start, which would have been a pleasant warm-up jog.

To the Expo: On Saturday, I took the # 2 bus ( 9 minutes ) straight to the Dodger Stadium Expo. It was easy as pie. Then, on the way back from the Expo, I stopped off at the legendary eatery, Philippe's, for lunch. Getting to the Expo and getting back from the Expo was a lot of fun. The Expo itself was not fun. I couldn't wait to get my bib and then get the heck out of there. Normally, I stay 4 or 5 hours at a major Expo.

Bottom-line: But, all in all, a fantastic experience. For all of the negatives, this was still a great marathon. I will absolutely return next year, and the years after that. I plan to do L.A. in perpetuity. The last 3 miles of the 2010 version, via scenic San Vincente Blvd, was fantastic with a fast downhill and a wondrous finish on Ocean Blvd terminating at the Santa Monica Pier.

Sold-out: 26,054 runners in a sold out race. I do believe that this is the first sell-out ever for L.A. ////// Last year, we had about 16,000 runners, far short of a sellout. ////// Temps at the start were a pleasant 53 degrees, but not so pleasant 78% humidity.

Medical: No ailments for me, except for stomach cramps during last 3 miles. Fortunately, the explosion from those cramps didn't come until after I finished. ////// Also, I still have a minor muscle strain in lower left abdomen that has been bothering me for the past four marathons (since Passadena).

The Unfortunate: Others were not so lucky. 111 runners were treated for medical maladies. And 30 were taken to hospitals. Fortunately, there were 10 Medical Aid stations along the course, staffed by paramedics, medical technicians, doctors and nurses.

Apparently a 21 year old had full cardiac arrest at mile 18. And my friend Richard Oberlin was taken to UCLA Medical Center after the 30K mark. All in all, a good day since the LAFD had predicted up to 40 would probably have to be hospitaized.

I guess all things are relative. We must remember that the idea of the marathon came by honoring the death of Phiddipides in 490 BC, who dropped dead after completing the first marathon. So far, 3 runners have died running the LA Marathon. One in 1990, and two in 2006.

5:37:00 Finish: This was my 31st marathon in 29 weeks  on my way to Titanium and 10 Marathon Maniac Stars. I had planned on a 5 hour marathon finish. But unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather with a slight flu bug. Also, I had just run an extremely difficult trail marathon at Cota de Caza the week before. Ergo, I was happy with my 5:37:00 finish (12:45 pace).

Getting Home: Before boarding the last Hotel shuttle bus, scheduled to leave at 4:20pm from Santa Monica (Main & Olympic) back to the Downtown Omni Hotel, I strolled along the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade and purchased for myself two bags of pretzels and two Cherry Coke Zeros. The bus trip back was on the 10 freeway. It was quick and easy.

Timing is Everything: Those who missed the Downtown Hotel Shuttle had to take the #720 Wilshire milk-run bus on surface streets back to Downtown, which took close to 2.5 hours. I am so happy that we caught the very last Hotel Shuttle bus for Downtown, which took less than an hour.

I do believe that there was a #10 Express City Bus, that actually goes onto the Freeway. But I don't know how accessible it was.

Legacy Runners: There were 233 Legacy Runners, those who have run every LA Marathon since 1986. The oldest was 86 years, having run his first L.A. Marathon at age 62 years. Of the Legacies, 205 are male and 28 are female. I ran in 1986 and 1987, #1 and #2. Had I known what a big deal legacies were going to become, I would have run all of the next 23. But, who knew?

World Class Marathon: Los Angeles has been striving for 25 years to become a world class marathon in the rarified air of New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and London. I believe that LAM took a giant step in that direction with the 25th running of the LA Marathon.

Was 2010 a transformative race? : Yes, I believe that it could possibly be transformative.
1. World class marathons sell-out.
- The L.A. Marathon for the first time got a sell-out.

2. World class marathons have great courses, either for speed or for attraction.
- The 2010 Stadium-to-the-Sea course is fast, and it is attractive.

3. World Class marathons get a Race Director or Owner who is determined to make the race world class.
- I believe that Frank McCourt wants world class status.

4. World class marathons attract the elite runners.
This means a fast course, appearance money, and prize money.
- Los Angeles is moving in the right direction.

5. World class marathons attract non-East-African runners. Elite marathoners only run one or two marathon per year. They will go where the money is. They will go where there is a chance at a world record. All marathons attract elite East-Africans because there are so many of them. But to attract Kara Goucher, Ryan Hall, Paula Radcliffe or Deena Kastor takes world class staus..
 This is an area that the L.A. Marathon is the weakest, and must pursue if Los Angeles is to achieve world class status.

See ya all in Chavez Ravine on March 20, 2011 for #26.

I first ran LA in 2007 and this was my second time.

New course is great. And I was really impressed by the level of support all along the course. Lot more people than I expected or remember last time.

All that said, organization was awful. Much worse than in 2007.
First, expo was really confusing and cramped. Had to drive to Dodger stadium (no shuttles) park far away and were no signs about where to go. Then once in Expo, registration was in the back and again, no signs telling people this and everyone was confused. And volunteers were really nice, but clueless on details.

Second, getting to race was terrible. I took shuttle from DT hotels. At 6:00 AM waited 25 minutes for a shuttle. Then took us 35 minutes to get to start at Dodger stadium (should take no more than 15 from DT). Traffic getting to Dodger stadium was so bad, they delayed start. I thought announcer was kidding when he said people were leaving cars on freeway to walk to start. But know someone that did this - they got out of their ride on the freeway and walked a mile to get to the start!

Third, my biggest complaint last time was gear check after race. Was a mess again. Took me 45 minutes to get my bag.

Overall, very fun race, but getting there was a pain and logistics need a lot of improvement.

The new organization has taken one of the worst big-city marathons in the country and moved it right into the top tier.

Sure, there were lots of little glitches: Expo, traffic, late start. But the big things are in place for a "gotta do" destination.

The course was pure LA - a great treat for runners on a Sunday morning. The support along the route was massive and enthusiastic. They may not have had GU, but I was offered more oranges and bananas than I could consume.

Only one serious complaint: Mile 1 is a joke - once around the parking lot! Come on, local 5Ks are more creative than that. Worst start mile ever. But the next 25.2 almost make me forget it.

Well done, LA. Thanks.

Positives
-I liked the course. It had variety. The hills were not bad and the big ones came early. We saw a lot of LA. The classy and the sleazy.

Negatives
Others have well described here the expo and traffic problems. Those need to be addressed. One more
-Gear Check. I had to walk nearly a mile from the finish line, waaaay down to the beach, in the opposite direction from parking and then way back again just to get my gear. The organization of the gear trucks was really poor...stuff was everywhere: inside the trucks, on the ground outside. It was a zoo. Bigger events have handled this better (notably, Indianapolis' Mini Marathon, with 35,000 participants).

Overall, this is probably a 'destination' marathon. I really think the sheer magnitude of the size of the event, being point-to-point and in a huge city overwhelmed the ability to organize it smoothly. I enjoyed the run but would not choose to do it again.

.

I think they took on more than they could handle. They ran out of shirts on mid-day on Saturday for men, which made no sense to me if they knew how many were signed up and the fact they had asked our sizes before the race. Race day start was a mess. Only one lane for drop off which created a huge bottleneck and backed traffic up on the freeway for miles. Luckily, we had a person not running with us so we got out of the car and walked in 2 miles to get to the start. Then, they delayed the start almost 30 minutes to allow for more people to get there and left us waiting in the corrals for way too long. I relly think everything would have been fine if they would have capped it at 20,000 and stuck to it. Rumors are they kept taking runners well over the 25K cap.

The Good
1.Course was outstanding,a few more ups & downs than thought would be there but most enjoyable.
2.Spectators & volunteers were fantastic. Was even surprised by the support in Beverly Hills & Brentwood.
3.The bling(medal) was top notch.
4.Thanks Frank for opening your stadium for everybody. A great way to relax before the race.

The Bad
1.No GU or GU type of energy gel or food on the course. Also the water stops were a little confusing the cups said Poweraide but would have water or visa versa.
2.The expo was cramped & crowded which seemed silly since we were in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium.
3. The shirt was nice just expected to see a referance to the 25th or the new course on the shirt.

The Ugly
1.The start needs to get organized with corrals that work.San Francisco Marathon does a fantastic job with there start. You would think 25 years later they would have it figured out.
2.I know they have no control on the weather but you need to start the race earlier.No reason not to start everthing at 5:30- 6:00 to help beat the heat.

Now with all that said I did enjoy the race and I will be back. But you want to be a World Class race tighten things up a bit and you will be.

This was my first Marathon and it was a great start to learning and working towards many more personal goals in running. Thank you.

I am an LA local with the goal to run in all 50 states. This was my 15th marathon, I've already run CA, and I only ran this race because of the new course. Finishing at the beach?!!? I'm there! The expo is outdoors, which was a little odd but seemed to work. It was crowed! Go on Friday if you can. Way too many people there on Saturday. Hopefully the organizers will spread out a little next year. Tons of samples but not much LA marathon stuff to buy.
The course is really hilly, so prepare for that. There was plenty of water (I was running at 6hr race so was near the back. They didn't run out of water or sports drink.) There was no Gu given so bring your own food. Plenty of porta-potties and very easy to follow course.
The spectators were wonderful and hats off to all the Angelenos who were stuck at home due to the road closures and still cheered us on. This race showed people that LA has nice people and supports runners.
I recommend this race to anyone who likes BIG races. You are never left alone and there is always someone to cheer you on or talk to. This race is worth it!