BOMF Running Festival raised several hundred thousand dollars to help the homeless in major cities across the country, and it felt so good to be a small part of that in my hometown! I took on the 37-mile challenge, which helped ME to get BACK ON MY FEET by doing a mile or two each day towards my goal of getting back in shape for live races! And, I received a medal, a tech shirt and even a “finish line” from BOMF just in time for the completion of my mileage!

I don’t know about you, but I usually think of a 5k as a fun run! So, I didn’t look at the course or elevation chart prior to race day and was unhappily surprised by the HILLS! You want to know how to get multiple hills into 3 miles? What you do is have a hilly course, and make it an out-and-back! Oh boy! I wasn’t prepared and it was a killer! Other than that, we had great race weather, the race was coordinated beautifully, the staff and volunteers were very nice and helpful, and the race medal was huge for a 5k! The only thing that REALLY upset me was that the race info said there would be no race day bib pick up. But, when my daughter and I arrived, we saw a table with hundreds of bibs! This means we could’ve saved the money we spent on a hotel to do bib pick up the day before! I felt that was inexcusable and I can’t understand why they would mislead us like that!

The 10K race was a perfect tour of the city of New Orleans! Nothing was missed! Some of this course included parts of the 5K course, which I loved because I was able to get pics I couldn’t get with the crowding of the 5K, the day before. The 10K course began in the downtown area, took us by all of the tourist and historical sights, then through a lovely neighborhood with so many beautiful homes and finished in a huge park! The finish line festival had. Live music, lots of snacks, beer, water, Gatorade, hard seltzer and more whiskey shots! Seriously, a good time!

This race is so fun, from beginning to end! It started with a party at the start line, with music and lots of runners in costumes! The 5k course took us through the heart of the city of New Orleans, past so many popular landmarks and even down a portion of the famed Bourbon Street! There were great photo ops and cool bands along the route, too! Then, at the finish there was a great traditional brass band, lots of post-race snacks, and even shots of Southern Comfort whiskey! How perfect is that?!

This is my hometown marathon, so I’m happy that it has always been one of my favorites! I have done this one 4 times and I’ve loved it (as much as you can love 26.2 miles, LOL) more and more each time! What I love about it is the course! It’s tough in the beginning because of some hills, but the fact that it covers so many different parts of the City where I was born is why I have loved it so much, and have recommended it to friends! (I will no longer be recommending LAM due to a course change for 2021, which will include a long out-and-back at the end of the race, replacing the finish at the beach, and resulting in an UPHILL FINISH! Why??!!) The course I love begins at LA Dodgers Stadium, takes you through Chinatown, downtown LA, Echo Park (where you can get free chili dogs from the locals around mile 5, if you dare), Sunset Junction, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills (Famous Rodeo Drive--Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc), Century City, Brentwood, and finally Santa Monica Beach! Running along the beach, to the finish line near the Santa Monica Pier, is the best ending to a marathon there is! The cool air and the gentle breeze coming off the ocean are oh so welcomed at that point, as you cruise to the finish with people cheering all the way! The finisher medals are beautiful and huge! And, if you do the 5K the day before, at Dodgers Stadium, you collect an additional extremely huge and heavy medal when you finish the marathon! Those medals literally will me to the end, every time! There is also great crowd support all along the course, in addition to the support of local running clubs who always come out to support their runners and everyone else on the course! To me, this was a perfect marathon until now, as a new owner has come in and plans to change everything that was so special about it his race! It’s really unfortunate for those who haven’t yet experienced it, as well as those of us who love to do this race annually!