I am a legacy runner for this race, and I have to say they really did listen to the comments from last year and fixed a lot of what was problematic last year. They moved the race to an earlier start time (and started ON time!), cut out the parking lot miles and ensured better lighting. This is how a race should be done–listen to your audience and you will have some happy runners!
The new course came with its challenges, though, including a killer amount of hills! I hate hills! But that made it all the more challenging. The awesome run through Dodger Stadium was enhanced this year due to the fact that the stadium was no longer under renovation, and we runners were greeted with an awesome welcome on the big screen. That was definitely the highlight.
I did feel that the course did not have as much entertainment as it did last year which was a bit of a bummer, but I loved the drums in Chinatown!
The expo was o.k.; hopefully as the race gets more years under its belt they’ll add more vendors. The sweatshirt was cool and we even got some fun blinking lights to light up the night. I didn’t attend any of the post-race festivities, so I can’t comment on that, but otherwise GREAT JOB to the NYR team!