Owen Lau's Staging Area

The best aspect of the event is its location. The ocean views are top-notch. I ran the trail along the road route after the race to get even better views. It easily could have been extended into a full marathon if they’d gone six or so more miles and taken a southern turn at the corner of the bay. There is the pier, the aquarium, Cannery Row, and museums right by the expo.

Impressed by how quickly the results came out at the race tent.

Beware that there are some hills at mile four and rolling ones along the entire route. It’s 450 feet plus gain, even though the start and end elevation show otherwise.

The Good:
1. The storm from Alaska didn’t show up until three days later.
2. Communication is timely and very professional.
3. Timed chip and mats
4. Well-marked course and sent runners out in a single file, even with 500-plus runners. It spread us out before the inevitable narrower trails.
5. First aid tent staffed and quick registration.
6. Nice metal medal and fancier tech shirt. No Buff, but did get a logo canvas bag and reusable cup.

The Bad:
1. Just like the climb up to Big Bear, it was switchback after switchback for a lot of the race. Trail races in Asia and Europe tend to go a lot straighter, and I prefer that, even if I have to climb up tree roots and branches and slide down on the descents. This one is a switchback ad nauseam and definitely took away some of the enjoyment of the race, despite the peaceful alpine forest environs. It was also kind of weird to be running through and past random campers.
2. Trail etiquette with pole users mostly throwing their poles horizontally backwards, and a few 10K runners cutting people off
3. Got a burrito at the end of the race, but nothing at all like what you’d find at a run-of-the-mill trail race: no fruit, no snacks, no recovery drinks. They could have invited a local coffee shop or brewery, and some other local businesses to set up some food stands. Also, they only had five water coolers for like 2000 people. They’re short-staffed for this one, but the ones who came were very good and enthusiastic overall.
4. Didn’t see a med tent during the course.
5. They didn’t even provide race photos and only cared about making their promo video.

It was my first UTMB organized race. I see that they’re just gobbling up races around the world, but they need to do a better job of inviting local businesses into the event, and bring out more involvement with the local community. I get that it is getting corporate, and that’s the downside of these things. It felt more professional and fancy communication-wise, but honestly, I enjoyed the local-led one I came for almost a decade ago, which was mostly along the lower trails near the lake with a lot better views.

I expected a lot more for what they charged. No fruit, snacks or bottled drinks after the race, no race photos, no photo op station, the expo tables were mostly empty.

Plenty of parking
Train your vert and if you can, at elevation
Mostly gravel trails and some rocky parts
There is no trail at the last summit part. It’s just free for all!
Do your strength training especially for quads and gluts and calves
I started to get numb at the calf part around 7-8000 feet probably due to lack of oxygen. It didn’t happen during training runs. Must be the intensity during the race.
You can walk back down to the ski lifts and take it back down but it takes two segments and costs 10 if you book it early on their website, otherwise, it’s 20 on the day of the race. Or, you can run it back down and it’s about 12 miles total.

Pros:
1. Course had mile markers and six passes at aid stations that had water and Gatorade
2. Orange cones throughout course but only one to distinguish between the three distances
3. One stretch along diamond head that showed the beach, one inland
4. Aid station volunteers were helpful
5. Times race with early enough time before it got hot and humid (5:30 start) for half
6. Plenty of police to guide the route and stop cars and even an escort at the head
7. A tiny metal turtle luck charm
8. Orange slices and pocari sweat at the finish
9. Big cheers at the sprint finish!

Cons:
1. Mostly through residential streets so not much to see in terms of scenery. Quite a boring course. A trail half here would be awesome.
3. No snacks at aid stations
4. Quiet race. No music at the start at the park and minimal support throughout race but quite zen so it’s fine
5. Thin race shirt worse quality than 3 dollar swap meet. Just super thin cotton with white print. No thought into design.
6. Basic print medal usually reserved for low end races that cost 35 bucks in Cali. The medals looking at from 10 years ago looked best with an actual flower shape and well designed. It’d have been much better to do one thing well, like a good medal, than to do many of the other things poorly, crap shirt, crap medal, crap stations, crap mc.
7. There really wasn’t an expo as only one local run shop showed up, the run lab and some old swag from previous races for sale.

I’d much prefer a trail race through the mountains inland with views at the top. This one needed a much better course. This one had 400 feet of vert but a really flat vibe

It could have been super humid and rainy during the run. Instead, it rained overnight and stopped half an hour before the race! When the clouds cleared, it got quite sunny. Arms burned from lack of sunscreen. Too hot for an LS shirt. As a rule, I only wore shorts and the race shirt, and I usually don’t wear it until the race is over. Needed to keep carry-on under 7kg!

The course had 1400 ft of vert and downhill as well, which is quite unusual for a road race. It’s par for the course for trail ones.

The expo was quite skimpy, just the customary running gear in a few booths. There was enough food on offer at the two rows of food trucks, but nothing like what I saw at the Osaka marathon. After all, it’s a small city race.

Too bad they wouldn’t give me one of the souvenirs on their tables even though I flew from California to run this race.

There were some fun photo ops: a huge horned bull, a HIMARS launcher, some Taiko drummers, and a nice tunnel view back down onto the city.

It was a big loop around a part of the island, so there were many rolling hills, nothing undoable as it was all on road or sidewalk.

There were many AED runners to help ailing runners, as well as volunteers with cooling spray along the side of the course and many people offering all sorts of snacks, even cans of beer!

For a small city race, it was fine to do just once.

Lovely course with beautiful views of the ocean and island. Technical course with many sharp, hard rocks and river crossings. Definitely bring poles and shoes with a rock plate that are not too high stack as the jagged rocks will get you. I twisted my ankles many times on the rock fields at the top. Before it was taken over by UTMB, they gave us a Salomon jacket for the 50 and 100K runners at the time. The medal was real basic though. It didn’t have the hoopla as it was a lowkey race back then, but still lovely to run. The weather was definitely cooler up top.

It’s nice to see tents for charities in the Dodger’s parking lot rather than tents selling stuff.

This is a hilly quick run around Elysian Park and the surrounding hills around Dodger’s stadium.

Logistics: Nice day off race bib pickup. For the size of the marathon, it should be allowed like any other smaller races without the extra fee. Also ran out of the 1/4 zip so settled for a woman’s to give as a gift.

The roving medics on bicycles saved my bacon on mile 19 when I got a muscle spray for my calf. Having medic stations all spread out doesn’t really help a runner if they cramp up and are lying on the ground. These roving medics were a lifesaver! Any big race should consider having this kind of roving medic on bikes. I’ve seen too many runners with big cramps later in a marathon and a med tent is too far away.

Nice views along the beach. The only boring and really hilly portion is a turn out loop during the middle of the race when runners have to loop towards a business park and freeway. If they had kept it only along the beach, it would have been better.

There were many after race booths for food and drinks. Everything is conveniently located next to a mall so parking was free and many food options nearby.

Cool medal with etching on both sides!

Many gels along the route and plenty of drink stations.

Take the hour long boat ride in the morning of the race and it’s a short walk to the fountain where the staging area is. Over 200 for the marathon and 300 for the half. Also a 10k and kid race. Everything is within walking distance in the small town of Avalon.

Course: very well marked with mile markers, very rare for a trail race. Very enthusiastic volunteers and well stocked stations. All unneeded was a bottle and refilled it every aid station about 2-3 mile apart. The biggest one is at mile 20 after their crush hill. Actually, the first climb during mile 2-3 to get atop the 2000 foot peak was tougher. But it’s quite flat from mile 5-18 with occassional rolling hills. But it’s quite steep at the beginning and end except for the first and last mile. Having poles would have helped for the steep parts. The only bad part was during mile 18? the fire roads where vehicles kick up a ton of dust except for the rangers who slowed down.

Saw buffalo from across a dip in the valley at mile 6and again at 21when you backtrack on the way down to Avalon. Huge swooping turkey vultures at the peak too.

Swag: long sleeve tech t and buffalo medal. Not much food afterwards but aid stations were great. There is a ice water pouring station around mile 15-16. Pizza at the end but only two pieces left and I arrived middle of the pack. But plenty of food options afterwards. Nice to see a band afterwards.

It’s right in front of the harbor so you can relax at the beach or take a soak in the cold water.

The scenery is nice but mostly cactus and chapparal.

It’s nice that you can go the morning of the race by boat.

Positives:
1. Convenient location for parking
2. Organized expo and website
3. Mostly flat course and early start time
4. Snailpacers paced the race with many pace times!
5. Tech shirt with good design and without ads littering the back
6. Five bands throughout
7. Beer garden after the race
8. Three gel stations

Improvements:
1. It’s good the organizers separated the half marathoners at the start. Too bad they didn’t separate them again towards the last two mile stretch on Ocean Blvd. It lead to a huge mess. It would have been easy to split that last stretch in half so the full marathoners don’t need to weave in and out of the walkers doing the half. This one fix would make the race a lot better.

2. Overpriced merchandise and not many race booths at the expo.

3. No sport drinks, only Nuun for electrolytes.

4. Too many dead ends to loop back and forth.

5. The views weren’t great. Half the course is through suburbs. The only pic I took was at the harbor during sunrise of Queen Mary and the bridge.

6. The medal could have given more space to representing the city than the sponsor. The airplane sponsor didn’t need almost have the medal.

Course: normal ribbon and arrows but no mile markers. It’s almost all uphill the first half and downhill the second half with a bit of single track at the end after 21k. Chapparal and well kept trails

People confused with starting line as there wasn’t one and people didnt know where to line up as there weren’t any visible signs available.

Ran one loop. Two, if you are running the 50k. But tiny medal. A little bigger than a coin, really. But you need to do the 50 for a buckle. I’d see unhappy faces if the 50k got the same medal! Watermelon and some drinks at the end. I’d expect more runners, especially for an anniversary race, if they took care of the runners a little better.

Nice run at a state park with mostly chapparel and some ocean views.

Too bad there was no race day bib pickup but they make you go to a mall the day before to pick up your number and shirt. Boo. Not convenient for people who lives far away or can’t go on given pickup day.

Beware of mountain bikers during single track portions

It’s a good way to get all of your nervous energy out of the way for the LA marathon the next day.

The course is a bit hilly around Dodger’s stadium, but a good way to get a good run in before the marathon as it has a bit of hills from the stadium to the downtown LA areas.

Nice tech shirt and a well designed medal.

Needed to take a real early bus to the start from the hotel like mid morning.
More of the course could have been on the wall itself.
The drum group enlivened the festivities.
It’s out there so not many spectators.