Let me put this out there: Although this was my first race where I didn’t accomplish what I set out to (a PR), this review has NOTHING to do with my personal performance.
Instead, it’s about my experience with the race organization itself. And it sucked. to put it eloquently.
This was the 25th anniversary of the LA Marathon, and it was celebrated by having a new “Stadium to the Sea” course, and the race is under new ownership, I believe. It was sold out at 25,000 people and cost $135 to register. There was also a 5k race on Saturday March 20th.
As it is right now, I don’t think this race isn’t worth the entry fee. It is a bit of a logistical nightmare. The only redeeming factor is the new course where you get to run by famous LA landmarks, but you still do plenty of running over busy freeway overpasses. fun.
The EXPO:
The line to get to the expo was out of control. We went on Saturday but heard it was the same on Friday. They would only let a couple people into the tent at a time hence the huge line. I wisened up and went in the tent through the “out” door and guess what, it was empty in there.
To add to the fun, they ran out of shirts ( if the race is sold out… meaning every one of the 25,000 spots is taken, shouldn’ they have at least 25,000 shirts?!) and I wasn’t given a corral tag or even told about the corral system.
To be fair, there were a lot of vendors there giving out stuff, but between the traffic to get to the Dodgers Stadium (which basically has 1 entrance and 1 exit) and the line to get the bibs, we left as soon as humanly possible without grabbing a single thing.
The signage at the expo was pretty poor too; we had to ask where to go, and I heard a ton of people ask the same thing. The set up was confusing, inefficient, and a pretty poor first impression of the LA Marathon organization.
One last tidbit of expo grossness: we found 1 (and only one) porta potty at the expo, and it was the FULLEST john I’d ever seen. It was almost to the top with waste and toilet paper. A guy working at the expo actually said he couldn’t believe I went in there! and he worked there! wow.
On the plus side, parking was free which was nice.
Parking, Shuttles and the Race Start:
I didn’t have a problem with parking and shuttling, but I arrived early, very early (4:30am). Plus I didn’t go get in the end of the long shuttle line, I just hopped aboard.
Even with all the shuttles, the race started 22 minutes late because people were late in arriving and roads weren’t secure. I can understand a couple minutes, but 22 is sort of ridiculous.
The porta potties at the start of the race were weirdly corralled off so when the race started people were still over there waiting in line. Although I thought they were sufficient, I read online that other runners said there weren’t hardly enough.
THE COURSE:
The redeeming factor of the race was the much-hyped “Stadium to the Sea” course where you start at the Dodger’s Stadium and end up in Santa Monica. Every mile you pass a landmark or famous spot which was fun. Some of these include the Chateau Marmont, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, etc. This was my first time running the race, but I’m assuming this course was probably a big improvement to the last one.
The course is not flat, more like rolling hills with a couple steep declines.
The other great part of this race was the volunteers, all 5,000 of them. There were water and powerade stations fully manned with volunteers every mile which was wonderful because it was warm out. I thought they were supposed to hand out an energy gel around mile 19, but I didn’t see it. I might have missed it though, I’m not sure. But there was plenty of water and energy drinks.
My SkinnyRunner Summary:
I’d rate this race a 4.87 out of 10. The inefficiency, logistical nightmares, and traffic just aren’t worth the new course. I extol the virtues of Rock ‘n’ Roll races often because they are organized well and are just easy to be a part of. You don’t have to wait in line or fight to get a shirt, corral bracelet or porta potty. I’ve never been to such an inefficient expo as LA’s. The crap you put up with is what you’d expect from a small $50 race.
But if you want to run LA, my tips:
*Wear sunglasses and warm weather clothing because it will be warm. And it wasn’t very cold at the start.
*Pick up your race bib early Friday morning when people are still working or have someone else pick it up for you.
*If you’re from out of town, take a camera with you during the race and take pictures of the famous stuff because that’s the cool part of the race.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I knew you guys were running the darn freeway! I almost didn’t make it to disneyland on time…geez sarah so selfish. anyways, that sucks about the race. with all the promo going on and it being the 25th anniversary and all I thought it would and should have been a blast.
What about Running Tuesday?
Sorry, didn’t see it =]
wow, bummer you had such a bad time. I thought the race and the organization was superb. I have done a few marathons and this was the most enjoyable. ya sure you had to deal with the logistical nightmare but it is LA, there is always traffic. I thought the shuttle system worked very well. I think the problem was that people didn’t want to take them and opted to get there on their own, hence the log jam and the delayed start. hope the next one is better for you!
That stinks that the race was such a nightmare for you. Also thanks for being honest about this race.
Ugg, I HATE poorly run races. Bummer it was so crappy. Kickass next race!
Wow I am so sorry, that sounds like a horribly put together race!!! Wow is all I can really say. Poor girl!
Sorry to hear about the race…but Im sure you have several others that will make you forget about it.
PS – love the tag “LA’s gay!!”
mannn that sounds like as*age (yes, I made up that word). You’re still damn fast though
Sara
Wow! sounds like a rough race! I never understood how they run out of things like t-shirts or medals. I ran my first half marathona and they had run out of medals. If they know how many people were running it I don’t understand why they would have not been able to have enough!? I wanted that medal so bad too! haha
Bummer on the race being so sucky. If you pay that much for a race, it should definitely be worth it.
I can’t even imagine paying all that money and logging all those miles and having it suck that bad. At least you’ve had a lot of good ones, I guess.
That stinks. To pay a heft $135 and have it be such a letdown. I had the same experience at the boulder marathon this year. It was expensive with all of these great sponsors, and yet they ran out of water and there were lots of other logistical problems. Guess you don’t always get what you pay for. I agree with you – you can always count on the RnR races to be well organized. Thanks for the review. I’m curious – have you talked to others and what did they think?
Ok, I’ll be honest, you lost me at “the porta-poty was completely full”. Sick.
The medal is cool though
aaaannndddd, obviously I don’t know how to spell “porta-potty”. Fail.
Yuk, the toilet situation alone would warrant a major fail.
Pretty medal though
Ick. I would write a letter to the Race Director or shoot them an email. You never know what might happen but it can’t hurt right?
As for waiting around at the start, that’s good practice for you for Boston. You’ll be waiting hours outside in freezing cold temps for the race to start.
A 22 minute start delay? WTF? That’s crazy. That’s almost as bad as the year they forgot to tell the train not to run on the day the California International Marathon happened and the lead runners had to stop and wait for it to pass! Nuts.
I still think you should consider CIM this year! Registration already opened!!
They have been messing with that race the last few years and it’s stupid.
I ran LA in 2003 and I loved it. Yes, the course was hard (ending downtown on an incline). Yes, it was 80 degrees, but it was managed well. I don’t know why they (a) changed the date for a few years to June, (b) change the course again, (c) changed the expo location, etc.
I mean, the course looked fun, but the rest sounds horrible. It wasn’t like that before. AND it was not an expensive race (though the medal I have is super-cheesy cheapo – at last they improved THAT).
I agree that the race management was pretty horrible! I got to the expo early enough on Friday, but opted for a shuttle from downtown to the start. Shuttle left before 5:30, and we arrived at Dodger Stadium at about 7:05. It was total chaos as people were jumping out of their cars and WALKING on the freeway! It was a warm enough morning and the late start made it even worse! The signage on race day was minimal and it was tough finding my corral (no one seemed to know what was going on!)
I love reading your blog! You always make me laugh!
how horrible! totally blame the new management. when I ran it in 2006, it was fabulous – expo at the convention center was a breeze, it started on time, weather was good, easy to get there by taxi. . . wonderful experience. so sorry
It’s crazy to read how different your experience was than mine for the race. Granted this was my first marathon – so I don’t have anything to compare it to besides my shorter races. The delay was definitely a bummer and the corral system was crazy. I’m still working on my recap. I am happy to report though I finished in 3:58 – so for my first race that isn’t too shabby and I definitely am already thinking about my next marathon.
What a drag…I cannot imagine having to ‘sprint’ to make the start line for a marathon.
Or deal with a full porta potty. I think I will stick with my mid-size races…
I ran this race as well and hated every minute of it. Hated. It was my 4th marathon and I will never race it again. I was screwed on the shuttle, screwed with the bathrooms. No warm up. No stretching. Getting to my pace group was a nightmare. The first mile was ridiculous and SLOW. Weaving through so many people who were in the WRONG pace group. Ugh.
Then the logistical nightmare of bag pick up. 1.5 hours. Highly disappointed. Race director should be fired. Has he NEVER had to work with the masses? Has he never run a marathon before? Has he never raced before? Is he even an athlete?!
Off my soapbox, thank you very much…
Thanks for this review! I almost registered for the 2011 LA marathon.
I heard you and Pam met up in Vegas. She actually invited me via email but yesterday, I saw that her follow up email was in my SPAM so I never got to read it ’til yesterday. Too bad I never got to meet you both =(
Hey would you mind filling out a short survey about the race at http://falkeetriathlon.wufoo.com/forms/multisport-event-satisfaction-survey/ ?
Not affiliated with race organizers, just a blogger project.
Thanks!
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