Do not park at the Convention Center. Park at one of the Metro Stations and take the Metro in to save yourself $10-15. My friends and I parked about 7 stops away and paid $3 for parking and $1.75 for a 1 way ticket. Parking at the Convention Center is $20. The choice is yours and yours alone.

Anyway, the race began and off I went. The half marathon and the 5k start at the same time so for the first two miles, it's a bit crowded. Boo. The course route itself is very pretty, but it doesn't take you to a lot of places in LA because it's a lot of out and back. There were a lot of rolling hills, but I do fairly well on hills so it wasn't too bad. Heh. You start at the Staples Center, which I could only describe as a mini version of Times Square in New York City. You then make your way to USC and Exposition park, where a lot of museums are located. Once you turn, you head back towards downtown and past MacArthur park into Koreatown. Then, you double back and head back towards downtown where you finished back at Staples Center. Although, this race is an out and back course, it still allowed you to see what parts of LA are like. One thing that I really liked about this race was that the end was primarily downhill with a turn and then maybe 200 meters til the finish line. I dislike races where you turn and then you have 800 meters to go. That's too long of a sprint. Heh. 

One thing I really liked about the race is that it's Halloween themed. Almost everyone goes all out and for some reason, there were a lot of food themed costumes this year. LOL. I saw pizzas, donuts, and french fries out on the course. So if you want an excuse to race in costume, this race will probably be for you.