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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: 473 [displaying comments 161 to 171]
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B. A. from Redondo Beach
(1/28/2009)
"May be worth another look" (about: 2003)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Moving the date to May was terrible, but at least they have now switched back to the old loop course and have moved the start time to 7:20 a.m., so maybe the new management deserves another chance. I ran this in 2003 on the loop course and the crowds were great and the course was fun. | |
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L. O. from Anaheim California
(1/22/2009)
"Not a very well managed race" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Lots of friendly runners in the race. The race started 15 minutes late. It started uphill - the wheelchairs had a hard time getting up the hill and it delayed the official race start. It ended uphill in downtown, at about 89 degrees. There were people lying out all over the ground at the finish line. I purchased the DVD of the race and it was never delivered. They responded once to my email inquiry about it, saying that there would be a delay in delivery. But then they never answered another email or returned any of my phone calls. I notified the L.A. official race site and they never responded either. I lost $68 on that video. The shirt for the race was a cheap, cotton shirt that was not meant for running. It was a very poorly organized race. | |
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Ulices Ramirez from Los Angeles
(12/28/2008)
"AWESOME TOUR OF LA" (about: 2008)
2 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Cool! | |
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J. S. from Southern California
(12/7/2008)
"Memorial Day - what are they thinking?" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I have run LA for the previous 16 years and this is the only marathon I run. When will they finally decide on the date for 2009? First it's Presidents Day; now it's Memorial Day. They're obviously not thinking about the runners - only the dollars in their pockets. | |
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Eberhard Schreck from Woodland Hills, Ca
(12/4/2008)
"Scary after dark through East LA" (about: 2007)
3 previous marathons
| 3 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 It was disgusting to come through East LA after dark, through industrial areas with warehouses and large trucks and homeless people and piles of garbage. There was ABSOLUTELY no event patrol, no police, no water stands, nothing; we were scared to our guts, pushing an old shopping cart for protection. | |
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Ronald Exley from Oceanside ,California
(11/14/2008)
"Good, flat course" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I've run all 23 L.A.'s and this last one was as good as any of the others. The course has always had its good and bad points. This point-to-pointer we've had in the last few years offers one of the most dramatic views of any of the previous marathons - coming over the huge bridge at the end of the race and into downtown still brings tears (well moisture, anyway) to my eyes. I do think it is a slap in the face for the new owners to move the marathon to Memorial Day on such short notice on the pretense that some churchgoers can't get to church. BULL! This will play havoc with the training schedule, especially for us old farts. Anyways, I love L.A. and will run it as long as I can. The new owners should think about listening to actual runners before major decisions are made. | |
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jessica walters from valley village, ca
(11/11/2008)
"i miss the OLD marathon" (about: 2008)
2 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I have done the LA Marathon for the past two years (ok, I had to take 2008 off cause of injury), but having seen the old course and the new one, I don't feel like I'm going to be missing out on THAT much by avoiding this race. Firstly, I think it's ridiculous that fewer than 18 weeks before the race they change the date. Secondly, this race used to have great spectator support, but now you run through areas where you don't see people for awhile. It's a downhill start, which kills a lot of people's knees, and you don't see many exciting parts of the city. I looked forward to training my 18 weeks and kicking butt at LA. But now I'll train 16 weeks and kick butt at the Huntington Beach Marathon on February first and say "Adios" to LA. There are too many other great races in May (hello, Wildflower anyone?) to stick around town for that nonsense. They would have been better off canceling it for this year. I am BEYOND mad that I started my training program and then they made this announcement. I love LA. But I hate the marathon. | |
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J. S. from Los Angeles
(11/10/2008)
"Horrible in 2008" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 3 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 This was the third time running the LA Marathon, and it was by far the worst. Issues I had: 1) Course was just awful. It was not a circular course, which is annoying. Also, the first 2 miles were uphill. Horrible. And the last 6 miles was through the ugliest parts of downtown LA. Truly horrible. Also, the start area was completely packed. 2) For the amount of money they charged, you would expect better freebies. Almost no goodies for this event. 3) Really, a horrid course. Ugly. 4) No organization. In past LA Marathons, they used to have separate staging areas for people who had different race times, so people expecting 5-hour race times would be begin with the 4.5-hour racers and so forth. This past year, there was no organization, so all these newbies would crowd the start of the race, and I spent much of my energy trying to get past slowpokes who inexplicably thought they should be at the front of the race. The pros: 1) Plenty of volunteer support (they're awesome). 2) Good supporters/great crowd. | |
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A. D. from Los Angeles, CA
(11/4/2008)
"Awesome start and finish; middle needs work" (about: 2008)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 As this was my first marathon, it is difficult to compare to others. (I have been a spectator on Heartbreak Hill, in Boston.) I loved the beginning; it had energy galore, like a frenzy carrying you. Then the tunnel where you get your game face and plan fixed in your mind, and the transition into downtown were very nice. The middle miles were tough and long; there was not much to look at, and not many people. The last 2 miles were solid, with a great finish atmosphere. | |
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T. A. from Southern California, United States
(10/27/2008)
"STOP THE INSANITY!!!!" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 I agree! For 22 years straight, I've been running LA. Then they had to go and screw things up with the point-to-point course. Why??? Terrible starting area; hills; no water; and hip-hop music... whatever happened to "I love LA"? Totally bummed over the whole thing. If I hadn't been running for charity, I would be a no-show for sure. Let's go back to Sunday and start and finish downtown. Frank will probably have it start at Dodger stadium so he can charge 25 bucks for parking. |
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