Marathon Olympic Trials were the day before.You were inches from the runners & it was spectator friendly. expo was easy to navigate &organized. Stayed at the DoubleTree Santa Monica,perfect, 2 blocks from the shuttles, rooms sizable for 7 people, &walking distance to finish.22 aid stations& more unofficial that supplied vaseline, cold towels, ice, popsicles, oranges. Fans were spectacular...riveling Boston. course Not easy, rolling hills and 2 long hills at mile 4 and 5, but there was plenty of downhill esp at the end when you needed it. Was very hot, but if you stayed to the left (cambered) there was shade. Sights were amazing, coursing from the start in Dodger Stadium, Chinatown, Hollywood, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Dr, Brentwood & finishing last mile on Ocean Blvd in Santa Monica. I cant find a complaint and I dont like big races. It is fun, well aided, a terrific way to see LA. Shirts were okay, medals were nice &heavy. I didn't expect to like a dirty big city marathon...I LOVED IT

Olympic Trials weekend! My first time to run LA. Nice expo, tons of volunteers. I liked the course rolling hills and a sweet 3 mile downhill. We stayed in the city and easily caught a shuttle bus to the start. After the race we caught a bus right back to our hotel without any wait time. Great medal and tee. I'd do it again for sure. Go Maniacs!

LA is always a great race. Still not sure if I liked the new course, seemed like more downhill, which was nice coming into Santa Monica on Wilshire Blvd. Guess, I kind of liked the long hill up SM Blvd. Lots of young runners this year, who had "Honda" shirts on crossed right in front of me, not paying attention to who was around them. Needed more port-o-johns. Had to wait 10 minutes to pee! Also water stations at the beginning were a little unorganized, took to long standing there to get water at the beginning stations. Gorgeous temp, cool breezes coming into Santa Monica, Entertainment was great. Had a solo cup of beer coming around the corner into Santa Monica. I highly recommend the Carmel Hotel. I stayed one block from the finish line, and it was super convenient after the race.

It's L.A. so yes, it is hilly and great for a challenge! The community steps up for this marathon every year, you have cheering crowds, drums, dj's, any kind of food and drink you can imagine. I've run it 8 consecutive years and while it's always a challenge it is, in my opinion, one of the great ones!

This was marathon #24 and State #16 for me. The marathon was big 20k runners 13k running half and 7k running the full. Starts at Dodger stadium, the views were awesome get there early to take pics. Three race started on an incline and rolling hills for the first 10-13 miles. Very challenging course. We ran through Hollywood, Chinatown, Rodeo dr. Seeing the sites keep me going.

Good Marathon.
Lot's of hills that makes it interesting.
Very nice medals
Terrible signaling at start, no way to know where the bag drop place was...
Terrible porta potty situation.
NOT all water stations had restrooms, and when they did, was absolutely NOT enough, had to wait in line more than 10 minutes. DISAPOINTED.

The logistics to get 22K people to the start line on time were great. Many shuttles available from downtown host hotels! I highly suggest staying at a host hotel for this event. The start line corrals were my biggest concern. If you had a qualifying time you were placed into A-E corrals. After that it was a free for all! People pushing and shoving each other to move up! The scenery and marathon experience was great! Sunset boulevard and Hollywood boulevard were my favorite sections! Overall I highly recommend this race.

First 18 Miles are great. Showcasing many landmarks of Los Angeles. Last 8 Miles suck. Will be a much better race experience when the Metro Rail Extension is completed. Race options for the end of course are limited until it is completed. Last 2 Miles of the Marathon are uphill.

This was my first LA Marathon despite being a resident of LA, and by far the biggest race I've run. Crowd support was fantastic and I loved running through all different neighborhoods. I'm sure I would have preferred the former finish line in Santa Monica (and its downhill), but I still enjoyed it. Finish line gear pickup was easy.

I appreciated the challenging new course. The last mile was especially challenging with a tough hill. The race had some logistical issues. They should provide a route to navigate the street closures to get to the Century City Shuttle Buses to start the race. I did not appreciate having to walk up hill 1 mile to access the parking lot after the race finished. Hopefully the race directors will improve the running experience with our feedback.

Great race with ~25,000 runners. From Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier and all the sights along the way. Even with the looming threat of Coronavirus, Angeleno's were out there supporting us.

The LA Marathon starts at Dodger stadium and goes through many of the key tourist areas and ends at the Santa Monica pier near the beach. It is a point to point race that started off at 4:15 am getting a shuttle to the start in Santa Monica. I do recommend spending $150 for the VIP experience so you are in a tent with tables and chairs and “private” ports potties and food and drinks. Otherwise you will wait on asphalt in the dark for over 2 hours. Aid stations were plentiful. I would do it again! Elevation was very fair.

Gradual down hill cooling as you go but with good climbs intermittently along the route. Not a good BQ course due to the climbs-but it can be a good fast time if you are trained for it and the weather is good. In recent years that has held true-moderate to temperate in the low 60sF. Pass all the landmarks-Beginning at Dodger, run thru China Town, Little Tokyo, Little Central America, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and finishing at the pier in Santa Monica.Well stocked aid every mile with informal aid in between many in the communities. Plenty of post race fare-animal crackers, cheese its muscle milk etc. Another KUDO compared to prior years (this was my 11th finish there)--the beer garden coupon program has liberalized: they accepted more than one beer coupon!, as long as one made (Separate visits.) (Previously prohibited.) Some complain about the entry fee-its commensurate with other cities-and not cheap securing 26.2 miles through all those communities.

I have done this race 6 times now. It's my home town race so I might be biased, but I love this race. Awesome course where you get to see the whole city. The Start is at Dodger Stadium (and usually some of the dodger players come to the start line), and the finish is at the Santa Monica Pier. It's a mostly downhill course. Just try to have someone drop you off at dodger stadium and pick you up at the end, so you don't have to get the shuttles super early in the morning.

Very well organized, but the course is a bit challenging.
Point-to-point course requires high level of planning, very early arrival to start, and difficult leaving after finish.

Hilly at times. Otherwise a great race and a well-oiled machine. They give two days of unlimited train usage, which is nice. No complaints at all.

Excellent support, with beautiful and challenging course.
Negative points for early and cold start, requiring lots of careful logistical planning, warm clothes, and long lines for checked gear, but unavoidable for a point-to-point course.
Post-race food a bit lower than average.

The LA marathon course takes runners through many distinct neighborhoods. Locals come out to cheer you on and offer water, fruit and Vaseline. The course has plenty of hydration stations. The start is congested and many participants do not follow the corral listing. The charity walkers do a relay which also bottle necks the course between miles 13-15. I have run this race several times and plan to register for next year.

The LA marathon was a good race but not my favorite. The first thing that really bothered me was that there were no volunteers when we arrived at Dodger Stadium telling anyone where to go. It took us a long time to find the gear check. Finally a runner noticed we couldn't find it and helped us. The setup for the open field is also very disorganized. The first 6-7 miles are extremely tight, crowded and full of inexperienced runners. There are also a lot of turns and some rather big hills. They were more exhausting because of the tightness of the crowd. There was ample crowd support. The icy hot spray that the medical team had were amazing when the hills really started effecting my legs. I am not a fast runner but I am also not slow. I found it strange that I was passing very slow runners around 12-15 miles in. I also felt the finish line area was a mess. My running partner and I couldn't even through the sea of spectators. The water stops were also not very organized.

This was our second time running LA and my 46th marathon - I like this race for the wonderful spectator support all 26.2 miles. In between water and gel stops, spectators line the course handing out their own treats of oranges, bananas, water, licorice, etc. and providing their own encouragement. The scenery is great and varied. if you are trying for a PB, this is a hard race to do it as there are many first time marathoners here so it is packed all 26.2 miles and it never seems to thin out. It is a wonderful finish along the Ocean Blvd of Santa Monica.

What an amazing race! The volunteers and crowd support were great. The course was awesome too. I enjoyed every minute of this race. I highly recommend it for anyone running their 1st or just want to run a fun marathon course.