Arrival: I live in San Diego, so this was pretty easy for us. We drove up from San Diego the day before the race and got a hotel room downtown (but not at one of the race hotels).

Expo: We were staying quite a few blocks from the convention center, but parking is expensive, so we took a lyft on down. The expo was pretty typical; LOTS of booths to explore. For me, it's all about what photo opportunities are available. I got a great shot of me, in my ucla shirt, with my bib in front of a photo of the original LA Marathon medal; I even got a shout-out from the UCLA alumni instagram!

Race morning: Probably one of the most difficult start lines to get to that I've experienced. If I were to do it again, I would stay at a race hotel and use their shuttle. As it was, it was SUPER early in the morning and I had to call a lyft. My driver did NOT want to drive through the traffic to the start line, Fortunately, I had left early enough that I had a little time to walk to the start line, use the restroom, and then wait as the elites started off.

THE RACE: What I loved about this race was that you get to see a TON of LA landmarks. It starts at Dodger stadium, you can see Griffith Observatory on the hill and the hollywood sign, run past Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Pantages, through west hollywood, riiiight near UCLA, and down into Santa Monica! As someone who went to UCLA, this race was a real dream come true.

I definitely struggled and was not fully prepared for how hard a marathon would be, but I am SO glad I made it!

Aftermath: one of the tough things about this race was that my boyfriend had to park pretty far away from the finish; so it was a long long walk back to the car before we could go get lunch. But overall, it was fairly easy to find my friends at the exit.

Summary: Definitely a race to remember; I highly recommend if you're looking for a west-coast scenic marathon.

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