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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 311 to 321]
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Shankar Ananthakrishnan from Los Angeles
(3/13/2005)
"Terrific first marathon" (about: 2005)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, finished in 3:28. Somehow wound up too far back for my pace and would've been 3 minutes quicker but for dodging walkers (with strollers!!) over the first couple of miles. Crowd support was excellent, water stations well stocked. Course is somewhat bare, and the mid-70s heat catches up with you over the last few miles. Nothing to compare against, but am planning to run in Chicago later this year. Will do it again, as LA is a sort of second 'home' to me. | |
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B. C. from Redding, CA
(3/12/2005)
"Inspiring and fun-filled!!" (about: 2005)
6-10 previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 4th marathon in LA that I have done with my older sister. We have made it a family tradition to do it every year--trained or not! We enjoy the time we have together as well as the inspiration from the crowds. Already we are talking about next year's! Keep up the great work LA!! | |
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P. H. from Denver, Colorado
(3/11/2005)
"The race was fun and high spirited!" (about: 2005)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my second marathon. The other marathon was very rural. I appreciated what the urban race had to offer. The expo and all the race-day volunteers seemed to want to do their best. I appreciated all the kinds of music, both vocal and instrumental. At the start, I felt crowded but the confetti and the American spirit were perfect. FUN! I would do this race again! | |
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M. R. from Phoenix, AZ
(3/10/2005)
"Great spectators and organization" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Ran my third LA Marathon with my daughter. Organization was very good and the spectators along the route were great. It was a thrill to finish up Flower Street with spectators standing 3-4 deep. Having your first name printed on your race bib was great - people calling out personal encouragement helped a lot. The course is awful. Considering all that encompasses LA - there are so many better places to route this course. Late start is also problematic. Weather can definitely be a problem. Still - the 2005 version was good. Don't expect to set a PR - just go and say you did LA! | |
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R. A. from Louisville KY
(3/10/2005)
"I love LA!" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Wow this is a great race. Truly a 26.2 mile street fair. Never were you far from earshot of the huge crowd. Sure it didn?t run by the beach or through Hollywood, but you got to see real LA and all the mix of ethnic groups that make up the real city. It was quite a show. True racers be warned: if you are there to PR, get to the starting pens early in order to get a good starting position. The starting area is only a so wide and becomes a traffic jam (so LA). It took me over 8 minutes to get to the starting line (love those chips). As the field is so big that the first miles are very tight. I ended up in a pack of runners bombing down the sidewalk, in and out of the crowds. However, after 2-3 miles it loosened up. It was hot, even though not as much so as in the past. The 8:17 start is odd. And the hills (long slow grinders, not real hills) are all in the tail end of the race. So the two do combine to take a toll on the field at the end of the race. Many folks walking in the last couple of miles. PROs -Excellent expo - on par with Chicago -Very festive feel to the whole event -Great crowds -No real hills (just rises at the end) -Interesting course - real LA, not plastic LA CONs -Tight starting pens -Aid stations not marked in advance -Not much of a post-race event -Headphones and cell phones on 2 out of 3 runners, but this is LA | |
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R. V. from Mission Viejo
(3/9/2005)
"Great! I love the 8am start" (about: 2005)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This is a great race, well organized, fantastic support. And I love the 8 am start rather than getting up at the crack of dawn. | |
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Devin Kuberski from Visalia Calif
(3/9/2005)
"Needs a different route" (about: 2005)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 They should start the race in downtown and then towards the ocean. Running through the same downtown/suburban areas gets kind of repetitive after awhile and really isn't showcasing all of the attractions of the area. (The people in the poor areas and downtown are pretty supportive though.) They did however put in the Colisuem and USC, which are both important parts of the city's sports history and yes, downtown is the city center, so I understand starting there. But it would have been better if it had started in those areas and then headed towards the glamourous West Side and the Pacific Ocean; that would be the true L.A. experience. This was my first though, and it will always be special. The weather was gorgeous, the perfect Southern California day with 70-degree heat and cloudless, crystal blue skies. | |
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Ralph Firehouse Grill Racing from Whittier, CA
(3/9/2005)
"Big City, Big Marathon" (about: 2005)
6-10 previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)s
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Yes, the organization is shoddy, but you knew that and ran anyway. This marathon is made for those who have finally adjusted themselves to expect nothing but disappointment and have learned to deal with it! Where else can you run a marathon in Death Valley heat in March? LA! How about Halle Berry handing out water on mile 6? Can't get that at Napa Valley! How about high fiving Scott Bakula? Didn't see him at Twin Cities. Look, it's big, it's spread out and tough, but it's 70 degrees in March!!! And you run marathons for FUN??? For fast times?? 5:00 is not fast and not fun, please stay on your treadmill in sub-zero temperatures before getting on the road in Los Angeles and complaining about the tepid water at the water stop. | |
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j. p. from Huntington Beach, CA
(3/9/2005)
"Great race and a lot of fun!!!" (about: 2005)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first full marathon, after running a couple of half's over the last 3 months. This was a great race, lot of different people from the serious runners to the eccentric. I read the comments last year about the heat, and yes, LA may be on any given day of the year range in temp from 50-90; that's a fact. But this year the 55-65 degrees and light wind were fine. Stay hydrated and wear a cap! It was a blast running with 25,000 other people. The LA sites were also fun to cruise by. I'll never forget the little kids putting their hands out for "high 5's", all the people who encouraged me by name (since everyone's name is on their bib), and also the 3 running Elvis characters with tunes blasting. Also, when I came around the corner for the home stretch, I could see the 26-mile marker banner in the distance and the finish line a little farther, but the entire stretch included 1,000's of fans cheering from the bleachers, and I felt like I was in the Olympics. All this for a first-timer (47 years old), on a hilly course with a time slightly more than 4 hours. I'll be back next year, for a 26.2 mile victory lap!! | |
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J. O. from Colorado
(3/9/2005)
"Not as bad as I feared" (about: 2005)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Having read the comments on this site about previous LA Marathons, I feared the worst in terms of disorganization, heat/humidity, hills and support. But Sunday's race was not so bad. The temps and humidity were close to the early March averages (it would not make much difference if they started at 7am) and the course is not as hilly as most other marathons. Coming from Colorado in late winter, the humidity and heat were refreshing at first, though intimidating later in the race. The biggest problem in my view is the start line, which is too crowded. Chicago used to have two starts on the downtown streets simultaneously that merged after about 2 miles - I think that option should be tried in LA. The signs pointing the sub-3, sub-4 and sub-5 hour runners to the separate corral were all but invisible. The large crowd in the general corral was not sorted or self-sorted in any kind of expected finishing time. I managed to get to the front of this mess but had to stand still for over an hour before the start, not an ideal way to embark on a marathon. The finish is fine for the removal of the chips and the hordes of friendly helpful volunteers. The biggest gripe there is the lack of refreshment options. All I saw was water, Gatorade, and small Cliff Bars. Compared to the amount of options at other big city marathons (especially Boston), this is very limited. I hope that there was enough stuff on the course and at the finish for the 24,500 behind me. I entered LA as a training run and it was a lot of fun, and a great way to see the city. I would not advise it as an option if you are trying to get a fast time or qualifying for Boston. The heat and humidity will always be there and the crowded first miles slow everyone down (except the first 500 or so). I think that a better California option is the California International Marathon in Sacramento in early December - smallish (about 2-3,000), great organization and support, and a fast course basically downhill to the state capitol. However, the diversity of the LA scene, the quality and variety of the entertainment (loved the Korean drummers), and the very friendly and cheering crowds make it one to add to your marathon plans. |
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