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Latest reviews by Annabelle
Annabelle recommends this race
(2016)
"Non stop fun!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
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Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
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I highly recommend this event! All four distances offered truly seemed to run without a hitch. This is NOT a highly polished urban race an it's important that you're comfortable with that. You need to come prepared to stay alert and aware of your surroundings.
The course lack nothing. Aid stations every 2 - 2.5miles, and the course has three sections a loop to the south and to out and backs to the north. The Northbound out and back offers a lovely paved lakefront path with a lovely view of the Milwaukee skyline. The north loop is a mixture of just about every terrain you might desire, some pavement, lots of trees, some single track trails, some multi-use trails, stairs, bridges and so on.
The course is fairly consistent rolling hills... no notable name-worthy climbs, but if you're doing most of you running on flat-roads then you'll start feeling the gentle rollers by the second half of your race. The volunteers were all wonderful, but keep in mind that this is a small fairly "old school" race, and as such the marshals are spread out, you you need to be responsible for looking for the course markings.
The course is very well marked, but again, listen to the race directors instructions so you don't get lost. Edited to add: the most technical part of the course is a 4-5ish mile section on the 9.5 mile loop (which you run twice for the marathon and 50k distances) you can for sure run a fast time on this course, but you'll want to take this trial section in the late miles into account. Many people hit the trail loop the second time and cramp up because of the turning and varied terrain.
If I were on the race management team I would ban headphones for this event. The are allowed but gently discouraged. THE ONE AND ONLY thing I would negatively comment on were people who were wearing headphones and during the trail portions couldn't hear runners coming who needed to pass. This is dangerous as some parts of the path are very narrow with a drop off one side.
Trust me, even if you typically run with music you will be totally fine here, there is so much to look at and hear!
In other news, the race organizers had a great variety of music playing at the park where the start/finish area was.
All distances are chip-timed, and all finishers EXCEPT for the 20mi training run (which is only $20!) receive a medal.
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(2016)
"LA Marathon could be better"
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A few things are expected when running a big city marathon, as well as running in southern California including: you expect some logistical hassles, and it might be really hot. So, I'm not going to speak about those things because you just have to prepare for them and accept them. The course is fine, I'm not someone who finds Los Angeles to be particularly aesthetically pleasing to begin with so I probably shouldn't wax on about that either.
On of the (many) things that are confusing about this race is that they keep changing the date, and even the MONTH of the race. It's LA, no matter when you have a marathon there's a chance it will be hot...so I think the event would do better to just pick a weekend and stick with it.
I paid the $75 fee for the "VIP hospitality" package so that I could pick up my packet on race morning and avoid using up and entire dat getting in and our of the city (I stayed in Laguna Niguel), I haven't heard any grumblings about the expo experience so I assume it was the usual fare. DO NOT BUT THE HOSPITALITY PACKAGE unless, like me, you were desperate to get you bib on race morning. They very transparently OVERSOLD the VIP passes, perhaps but several hundred. The amenities WERE NOT AS ADVERTISED, so I feel like I 100% paid $75 for race day packet pickup, which seems awfully steep. The "separated gear check" was simply a VIP truck in line with all the other gear trucks...so...no difference there, the tent was far from the start corrals, especially for those of us in the "A' corral, so I have a bit of a walk to get to the start. The tent was NOT heated as advertised...which is fine, but many people were cold as they dressed light expecting the tent to be heated, and the "private" porta-potties were 8 porta-potties and the line was extremely long. I waited over 20 minutes. Also, the hospitality tent was like 50 yards from the big collection of ports potties so.... those lines were actually shorter.
You have race morning options of: a shuttle from downtown LA, a shuttle from Santa Monica (where the finish is), or being dropped of at Dodger's stadium. I accidentally skirted the system because my friend dropping me off and I got a little lost. We couldn't navigate to the designated gate for drop off so she dropped me off on an access road on the opposite side of the stadium and I walked about .25mi, which turned out to be good because the runners drop-off traffic looked AWFUL!
The course starts with a really harsh downhill, and then is a series of hills (NOT gentle rollers but also not totally impossible to run an even effort either). The final few miles into Santa Monica are all downhill, and you get a really nice cool breeze from the coast coming at you. It IS possible, due to the start time (6:55am) to find shade to run in on nearly the entire course if you stick to the left side of the road, which is nice. Only TWO of the course clocks were working (I THINK at miles 8 and 20)...which honestly for me was NBD because I have my garmin, but there ARE definitely enough runners who don't race with a watch that there should always be reliable on course clocks for an event of this size.
If you collect medals, you'll love this one. From a google images search I can see that the medal have been TOTALLY different each year (and the major sponsors have changed frequently it looks like), but this years was pretty nice. It's large, and heavy, and I thought it was cute that instead of the date it says "Valentine Day 2016".
I don't think I'll sign up for this one again, there are too many other SoCal races to check out than gamble on this one again.
Annabelle recommends this race
(2016)
"Lovely event for a great cause!"
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This year's event happened to fall on a day of wildly unseasonably warm weather for Chicago and so the lakefront path, on which 90% of the course runs, was well populated. The course marshals were well placed and alert, which is always great. I didn't use the aid stations but they seemed pretty standard, and there were plenty of them.
5k finishers received Mardi Gras beads, and 10k finishers received some really nice themed medals (see photo).
The only downside to the actual run, as happens with so many multi-distance events, is that the 10k and 5k follow the exact same course but with different turn-around points. The 10k started 15 mins before the 5k, so this meant that the first half of the 10k field caught up to the middle packs of the 5k for the last 1.5 miles of the race. The lakefront path isn't wide enough to really safely accommodate this and so the faster 10k runners really have to put on the breaks and do some weaving to pass runners and avoid those who are oncoming.
The lakefront path remains opens during events and so there were cyclists to avoid as well....I did fine, but nearly got smacked into many times. Such is life on the Lakefront path!
Post party at the Fat Cat, which is a great bar! (I didn't go, however)
Annabelle recommends this race
(2015)
"Finish or Fossilize! "
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Overview: This event has two race distances, 50K and 25K sharing the same course: out and back for 25K, do that twice for the 50K. The combined field is limited to 200 runners and so even though some of the trails are indeed single track, there isn't any congestion. Registration is $60 if you wait until the last minute (as I generally do...), shirts are great, age-groupers in 10yr divisions 3-deep receive pint glasses, all finishers get medals. The commitment to the "finish or fossilize", dinosaur theme is fantastic. TONS of food at the finish and the big aid station is well stocked. There is one un-manned aid stop about 4 miles from the start/finish (so for 50k you pass 4 times), and a large manned station at the turnaround at about 7.75miles (for 50K you pass twice) - I carried a handheld bottle. Gear drop for mid-race supplies is offered. Atmosphere is relaxed, and runners etiquette is on-point!
Course: (I ran the 25K) The course is fantastic and suitable for seasoned trail runners who can use this as an opportunity to absolutely blaze through the race, but also fun for Chicago flat-landers who are used paved terrain, and beginners would fair well also - certainly you get a full-body workout! You'll run over has just about every element, in manageable bits for any ability level, that trail runs can offer: flat with crushed limestone, grassy fields, hard-packed or muddy single tracks, lots of rolling hills, a couple steeper climbs with some rocks, lots of roots to remind you to get your knees up, some rocks.
The course was very well marked, as long as you stay alert and keep your eyes frequently on the ground ahead of you...which is a good idea on trails anyway.
On the way out I kept thinking "there is definitely more uphill on the way out" and on the way back I was thinking "no, there is definitely more uphill on the way back"...conclusion: it's pretty even.
I will definitely do this race again, they also have a Spring version.
Annabelle recommends this race
(2015)
"Perfect fall marathon season tune-up race!"
Overall
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This is a really solid race, and one I hope to do again! Much like the Cary March Madness Half Marathon in the spring, both the course profile and the timing make this a fantastically positioned event for testing your marathon readiness. The course is challenging but not SO challenging that you couldn't post a PR if you were fit for it and of a mind. Also, entry fee was only $50!
You wouldn't necessarily expect a half marathon course that runs through a suburban neighborhood to be full of great scenery, but boy, you'd be wrong. Lots of green space, some beautiful houses, lots of little ponds and stunning trees, and a few views of Lake Zurich of course. The rolling hills persist through the entire 13.1 miles. There are quite a few turns, the course is sort of a serpentining lollipop shape, the streets are wide, and the course remains open to traffic (though it was light) - because of this it is difficult to run the tangents, and there seems to be a consensus among finishers that they ran long. I think the course probably measures accurately at 13.1, but a great many runners finished with their GPS watches marking 13.20 - 13.30 - certainly not something that should deter you from running this very well organized race!
The only downside was that the race ran out of "goodie bags' at the finish so runners finishing later than the 1hr50min mark or so didn't get post-race food. I felt bad because I generally can't eat what's there but took a bag (food allergies). So, with the growth of their race perhaps this can be solved by simply not making pre-sorted bag, but just the typical buffet style and people take what they want and leave the rest.
The race crew and volunteers on the course and at the aid stations were friendly and left no doubts regarding where to go, which is always a plus. The course was really well marked with large arrow signs and there was a large contingent of police officers to assist with traffic (which was minimal) on big road crossings.
Parking seemed sufficient right on-site, however, it appeared that 75% of runners arrived an hour before the race start (as I did), so I'm sure there was some overflow off-site.
All half-marathon finishers received a big and heavy event specific medal, and age group winners 3-deep received medals for that as well. I'm not sure if it was the first 500 people to register, or the first 500 to pick up their packets, but at any rate, 500 hoodies were given as well. I got one, they're pretty nice :)
Here is a link to my Garmin data if you are interested in the elevation profile ( https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/897555211 ) as you can see, no real big hills to speak of, but the rollers don't ever stop.