PRE RACE COMMUNICATION
One thing you can ALWAYS count on RNR for is their communication. You get TONS of e-mails and reminders of what to do, where to go, where to park, etc. It is nice to feel in the loop coming up on race day.

EXPO
The expo itself was great. Getting the expo was the hard part. The expo was at the LA Convention Center...the same day as LA Comic Con and other events at Staples and LA Live. Parking near the expo was CRAZY. LA traffic is crazy in general, but this was beyond normal crazy. I talked to people that paid $60+ to park in the lots near the convention center. I parked about 7 blocks away for $15. I wish the expo was somewhere else...it was a mad house.

COURSE
This year there was a new course, 2 out and backs. We went from Staples to the Coliseum, back to Staples, to the Wiltern and back. I don't love out and backs because I think it makes the course feel longer, but it was great seeing so many of my friends on the course. There is hardly any spectator support beyond the finish line, but the energy from the course volunteers helped make up for that. We also ran near some very questionable parts of LA, I could have done without that....

SWAG
The race shirt and medal are Halloween themed. They're cool, but I'm not a huge Halloween person, so I could go either way on this.

MISC. RACE DAY
Parking race day was $20 (that's even more than parking at Disneyland) which seemed a bit crazy. Since the race is the weekend before Halloween the costumes are great! People get very creative so it helps take your mind off of the course. The lines for the bathroom in the morning were CRAZY long. There seemed to be an okay number of bathrooms on course, we stopped in the coliseum to opt for a real bathroom vs. port-a-potty.

All in all we had a lot of fun. We ran this race for fun, no race day goals. I would do this race again, but I also wouldn't be crushed if they canceled it or changed it. With all of the construction happening in DTLA maybe it's not the place to center the race anymore?

The Santa Monica Classic was a great race! Even though it's a larger race, it still feels like a community race.

Bib pickup was race morning (there is an option the day before if you live close) and there was TONS of parking through Santa Monica. The 5k started first and 30 minutes later the 10k was off.

If you've ever ran LA Marathon before, it's basically the last 3 miles of the race backwards. It's an out and back with great ocean views.

Both distances get the same finishers medal and shirt. Both had GREAT designs this year!!! The expo is on the Santa Monica pier with photo spots, vendors and snacks. Overall it was a great race morning and I will definitely do this distance again.

Also noted that the e-mail race communication was FANTASTIC!

This race turned out to be WAY better than I had expected. Everything about it was classy and organized.

I went to the Expo Friday morning, shortly after opening. There were no crowds or lines, plenty of room to walk around, tons of merchandise, and your typical expo vendors. There wasn’t a TON to look at if you’ve been doing a lot of racing, there was nothing new or exciting. The official merch was great! If this was my first marathon I could have easily purchased hundreds of dollars of swag! It was cool to have beer, coffee and food trucks at the event too, especially since I was with family who were just waiting for me to finish.

The starting line was easy to get to. I had an uber drop me off near an intersection of the corral 3 entrance. I didn’t gear check, but the trucks were right there. There were also a ton of port o poties at the intersection as well. It was still rather dark so I needed my cellphone light so I could see inside. The corrals were easy to manage and navigate. The start wasn’t anything grand, but the lights on the bay bridge made for some nice early race photos.

I was very nervous about all of the hills. The full has a 6 hour time limit, which also had me a bit nervous. I knew the first inclines would come early in the race, so we knew not to go out too fast. The nice things about the hills are that they don’t last that long (mileage wise). Once we made it up the first few inclines we were on the bridge. I was given the advice to bring a throw away and keep it until after the bridge and I’m glad I did. The winds weren’t too bad, but it was cold with a few gusts. The bridge was crowded and slippery, so we were being very mindful with each step.

Once we got off of the bridge we were in Golden Gate park which may have been one of my favorite parts. There was a lot to look at, you didn’t feel like you were in the city and there were a lot of switch backs. Typically I don’t like switch backs, but there were so many that it helped you get distracted about which direction you were going and before you knew it, you were 18 miles into the race.

Everything after Golden Gate park is pretty uneventful. There are some dirty and questionable neighborhoods, but the hills are gone…so that’s a plus. The industrial part of the Mission Bay (before the ball park ) was rather boring, but we knew we were almost done. The streets are AWFUL so we also were being careful not to misstep. Running by the park as they got ready for a day game was cool and the extra people around helped with momentum for your final mile.

The bling was great, the finish line swag was okay, but I felt like the finish line festival was not as close as it could have been. However, I did enjoy my damp scented towel from Airfrance as we walked through.

Overall it was a great race! Some of the mile markers were hard to see and I feel like there could have been more hydration stations, but all in all it was a very classy organization and an organized event. They do a great job at really running you through the city and avoiding some of the major hills. The course ended up being way easier than what I had made up in my mind, so that was nice! We would always like it to be easier than harder, right? PLUS you get FREE race photos! I LOVVVVE it when you get free race photos! I would have jumped in front of more cameras if I had known ;)

BONUS: The spectator bus is AMAZING! My fiancé purchased a wrist band for $20 (you pick it up at the expo). They pick you up at the start and you get to go to miles 3, 12.5, 22 and the finish. It was great to see him so many times and it was super easy on him! He said it was the easiest race to spectate because of their bus coordination.

NOTE: It is very different than LA Marathon. One of the things I love about LA is how the city comes out to cheer and support. There are virtually no spectators, so be prepared to not get the boost from people cheering.