I had a good experience at this race in general. This was my first big city race so I wasn't sure what to expect. Packet pick up was a breeze, the staff very accommodating and quick to get you your things and explain the timing tag. The expo was big and very crowded! Lots of companies giving away things if you were willing to wait in line to get your goodies.

The race itself was a shock to me. I'm used to small, local races, so standing along the street with 18,000 of my newest friends was a little different. I appreciated the wave start, but what I didn't really care for was that the corral moderators didn't move our group up fast enough and when our wave started, we were nowhere near the actual start line.

The race course was nice, we ran by a few LA land marks and if I had been running with someone, I'd probably had been more aware of the cool stuff and taken pictures. I tried to stick with a pace group but about 5k in, the pace group leader had to stop to use the restroom and I passed them. Somewhere along an out and back I found the pace group sign in a traffic cone, so that apparently went out the window.

The finish line area was kind of a nightmare. You had to walk a good ways to get out of the finishers area while people are handing you food items. A bag or a box would have been nice to have for all the goodies. Plus once you got to the end where you could meet your family, it seems to be where everyone stopped, so it was very congested.

Overall, I think it was a nice race. I think I'm glad I ran my first big city race with such an established race company.