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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: 472 [displaying comments 71 to 81]
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T. C. from Carmel, Indiana
(3/29/2011)
 "Great course" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 We were late getting to starting line. In traffic for 2 hours. We were so stressed sitting in traffic - there must be a better way to enter the stadium. But I do love running on this course!!!! Thank you, LA. | |
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Poncho Leon from México, City
(3/29/2011)
"Cold, windy, hard & fun" (about: 2011)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 It was my first marathon, and it was a great experience, something to remember forever. Thanks for all you people who helped and motivated us on that rainy day! | |
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W. F. from Rochester, MN
(3/28/2011)
 "Great course, heroic volunteers and crowd support" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Race information: Website complete and easy to navigate. All race specifics fully detailed in a nice series of emails sent out weeks before the race. Expo: Quite large, spacious, and outdoors by Dodger stadium; glad it wasn't raining Saturday. Quite generous vendors, felt like I was trick-or-treating. High quality LA marathon gear available at reasonable prices. Packet pick-up: Well organized, took 2 minutes at most. Bib timing chips were nice. Transportation to race: Well organized shuttle service from and back to the downtown marathon host hotels. Included in the discounted hotel rate (not bad for LA) and well worth it for the runner from out of town. If considering, make host hotel reservations many months in advance. Start: Get there early. Closely monitored entry into time seeded corrals, appreciated this but had to arrive early to get in. Not enough toilets next to start entry, so plan ahead. Delayed start as course could not be cleared in time. Course: Mild rolling hills with only one moderate uphill climb at mile 4. Nice downhill cruise to the ocean front the last 3 miles. Not all miles marked. Great tour through LA. With the torrential rain, occasional small rivers coursing through the streets and ankle deep water around street corners added to the excitement. Aid stations: Plentiful and well spread out, ran through every one without problem. Two flavors of Gatorade. Heroic volunteers hung with us despite the monsoon. Crowd support: Surprisingly good and enthusiastic despite horrible weather. Nice bands under the bridges. Finish line: Very good volunteer support to keep finishers moving. Food: bagels, chips, fruit cups, energy bars, etc., on a help yourself basis; nothing special. Never saw the post race festival due to the rain and wind. Medal: Substantial and unique, very nicely done with beautiful lanyard. Bottom line: Had a great time despite the weather. Conditions are conditions, marathoners deal with them. This will be an awesome run with decent weather. I will be back. | |
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MaryLou Herrera from Bisbee AZ
(3/27/2011)
"Great course - liked it better than 2007!!" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my second LA Marathon, and I loved the new course. I ran the whole way with my daughter, Jenna. It was her first marathon. I know she can run through anything now. We couldn't stop laughing because the weather was so bad. We made the best of it. Thank you to all of the volunteers who were there with us in the rain too! They are all heroes!!! Please keep the course the same. I loved starting at Dodger Stadium. - MaryLou from Bisbee Arizona | |
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V. R. from Tampa, FL
(3/26/2011)
 "What was I thinking? Running in rain." (about: 2011)
3 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 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. | |
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m. J. from Los Angeles, CA
(3/25/2011)
"Great Improvement from Prior Year!" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 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. | |
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K. M. from California
(3/25/2011)
 "Phenomenal Course but Inadequate Organization" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 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. | |
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Jim Kaiser from Webster, NY
(3/24/2011)
"fantastic!" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 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. | |
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B. T. from San Diego, CA
(3/23/2011)
"Great race slightly marred by rain" (about: 2011)
3 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 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. | |
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A. C. from Pittsburgh, PA
(3/22/2011)
"Dedicated spectators! Great course!" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 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. |
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