Bib Pick up- Bib pick up is downtown LA and you park at Pershing square. Traffic is never good in L.A. The expo was very small and weird kind of a waste of time in my opinion. The Biltmore Hotel is a really neat hotel to walk through so I have to say getting to look around the hotel was the best part of the expo.
Pre-Race was dumb. The sound system was working right so we couldn’t hear the National Anthem. They were trying to rope off the corrals and people were just going under the ropes so I saw folks I know for a fact run a 3:30 half marathon in the first corral. The best part about the start line is that it was near a Starbucks and Chipotle so if you got there really early you had somewhere to hag out.
The course- That course was no joke! I heard people complaining about going around and around Dodger Stadium parking lot too many times the previous year. Well the fixed that! Now you enter Dodger Stadium on mile 3 1/2 and you don’t leave till mile 9. You run past Dodger Stadium and into Elysian Park. This race goes up, up and up some more. If you do like hills and more hills don’t do this race. This race really more of a test of your endurance. I saw TONS of people walking and wiped out. The funniest part is just when we thought the hills ended other runners coming back in our directions shouted out ” It gets worse” After the gut wrenching hills you get to actually run through Dodger Stadium which was just AMAZING. I loved that so much it made me forget what I had just been through. Once you leave Dodger stadium you are welcomed my a much needed Cliff Shot and then into a downward ( kinda) home shot. The race ends over by the Staples Center.
Post Race- They had a beer garden that we hung out in and that was nice. Not much at all food truck wise. It was really dark over there. The medal was FANTASTIC I loved the medal. You also get a hoodie for this race which I wear all the time I just wish they hadn’t given out white this year.
My only complain about this race is I don’t live in Downtown LA nor do I hang out in Downtown LA so I am not familiar with the streets. It was very dark and we had to walk many blocks back to Pershing Square. It would have been fantastic if they would have marked the way back. It would have been equally nice if they had marked the way to the start line as well. We had to use the map on our phone both times to locate them. Possible getting mugged at 1 am in the morning while lost is not my idea of a great ending to a great race. Just sayin 😉