Results tagged “lamarathon”

Okay, it's time to stop munching on that mac and cheese. On the heels of a major makeover to the Los Angeles Marathon route , two new half marathons for Los Angeles were announced today by separate companies. Come this January, the 13.1 Los Angeles Marathon will run through the Westside and next October, the popular Rock n' Roll Marathon will make a debut in Los Angeles, replacing the City of Angels Half Marathon.

This morning, as the countdown clock to the 2010 LA Marathon declares there's 131 days until the big event, the official "Stadium to the Sea" course map was released. Beginning at Dodger Stadium, this brand new route takes participants and their supporters through some of Los Angeles' iconic and familiar-the-world-over city and county sights and neighborhoods, including El Pueblo, City Hall, and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown...

Now that the Los Angeles Marathon is back on a Sunday in March--the 21st to be exact--the new "Stadium to Sea" route is being hashed out. Under current Santa Monica law, only 5K and 10Ks are permitted, but on Tuesday the City Council instructed staff "to return with an ordinance or policy change that would allow marathons to be held in the city," according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Shortly before noon, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved moving the LA Marathon back to a Sunday date in the month of March beginning next year. During public comment, most speakers supported the date change, but a few stood up to save Sundays. "For those who have made this into a religious issue, this is not a religious issue... This has not and has never been a religious issue," said a determined Father John Bacchus who said that a single event should not tie down the city to the degree it prevents people of faith attending their institution. A compromise within the approved motion instructs city agencies involved with the race's logistics "to design a new point-to-point route which will minimize disruption to Sunday church services." The agreement also allows for the "Stadium to Sea" route, which could include Santa Monica, announced last week.

After a year of disappointments, the Los Angeles Marathon is considering a new route that would begin at Dodger Stadium and end in Santa Monica, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press: "Marathon officials are planning a new route for the 2010 race, starting the course for its 25th anniversary at Dodger Stadium and ending it in Santa Monica, hoping to breathe life into an event that in years past has lost some of its luster."

It was the City Council and without their thinking caps, says the LA Weekly. The City owns the marathon and contracts it out to the McCourt Group (yes, the same McCourt who owns the Dodgers). "Everyone seemed happy — until the first 'pre-planning' meeting" at Councilman Tom LaBonge's office, wrote Tina Dupuy. "There, somebody thought to ask senior transportation engineer Aram Sahakian about the street logistics of holding the marathon on President’s Day, February 16. Incredibly, nobody on the vast staff of the 15-member Los Angeles City Council, which employs 320 personal assistants at an annual cost of about $20 million, had bothered to fully review that date with the transportation engineers before the council approved the deal. Instead, Sahakian tells L.A. Weekly, 'It was done verbally at a meeting.'" Good one, guys. Too many people work on President's Day, traffic would be severely impacted so it was moved to Memorial Day, which is traditionally hot. Luckily, this year runners got lucky with the weather. Next year, all signs point towards a colder Sunday date, but you never really know in LA.

       

There's been controversy aplenty surrounding the date of the LA Marathon this year, and now, in preparation for next year's run, Greersoc.com founder and 15-time marathon runner Greer Wylder suggests in an LA Times editorial today that organizers also consider improving the route. Why? Because, to be blunt, it's really ugly.

Wesley Korir of Kenya won today's LA Marathon, beating the race's record from 2006. His 2:08:24 finishing time beat the previous record of 2:08:40 by 24 seconds, according to the LA Times. In the women's race, Tatiana Petrova of Russia won finishing at 2:25:29, also a record with the third-fastest time.

The LA Marathon has been happening since 7:20 this morning, but with miles to go and thousands of runners and spectators, the route is going to make getting around town a bit challenging for many today. So before you head out, double check the route map to see if you need to rethink your own route, or, if you want to help cheer people on, check out the Spectator's Guide to see where the bands, the cheerleaders, and the broadcasters will be gathered.

The City Council may have learned their lesson by forcing LA Marathon organizers to a Monday holiday rather than the traditional Sunday. Today a council committee voted to hold the 2010 marathon on a Sunday in March. This year, it will be held on Memorial Day, which has not been good participation or the health of runners who choose to run on the traditionally hot day. It will next go to the full council for approval.

Oh, awkward turtle! Upland city councilmember Ray Musser was describing his inauguration trip experience to the public when he said some uncomfortable things. By looking at the video posted on LA Times, it even appears that he pre-wrote this: "I came away just appreciating America. A tremdendous change, we're headed for changes that we might even be somewhat scared or frighetned of, however, the change in the crowd was completely different than four years ago. There was a lot of non-whites in the crowd well behaved and that was so gratifying..." Now the Mayor and other councilmembers want him ousted.

If baseball was not enough, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has bought the rights to the Los Angeles Marathon through a company called Going The Distance. While the race route will not be changed this year, the race date will be changed from March 1 (as it is currently listed on their website) to February 16 on President's Day.

KNBC Broadcaster: "Well Ed, is it one of these matters where the Kenyans and Ethiopians, let's be honest here, they see a white guy out front and they don't take him seriously?"

With year-round great weather, awesome beaches, and a short drive to the snow, Los Angeles is the perfect place to get sweaty.

Thanks to our shutterbug readers, our LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr was gifted with some shots from yesterday's 23rd Annual LA Marathon.

Did you catch these guys and gals in full Slash regalia making the 26.2 mile trek through the city today? Here's the official explanation of the eccentric marathon attire and attitude:

Today's LA Marathon was invaded by rocker Slash look-a-likes, who competed in the race for Gibson Guitar as part of a worldwide launch for the Velvet Revolver guitarist's new signature model Gibson and Epiphone guitars which will go on sale in limited quantities on April 1, 2008. Fifty Slash look-a-likes donned wigs, top hats, t-shirts, sunglasses and even the signature cigarette prop in the "Dash for Slash," encouraging onlookers to "Shred like Slash" on April 1st.

Russian Tatiana Aryasova won the LA Marathon, and the $100,000 "Banco Popular Challenge" with an unofficial time of 2:09:32*, beating out the top "elite" male runner, Laban Moiben of Kenya, who clocked in with an unofficial time of 2:13:50. The petite Aryasova is in peak shape; she recently gave birth and resumed her training rapidly.

A clear, crisp early spring morning greeted the participants in this year's LA Marathon, and the runners are filling our city's streets.

• Boy am I glad I don't live in this Torrance neighborhood, where a cache of machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were found in a house Friday. The residents may be terrorists, police say, but the owner of the weapons said he is just a collector. Do you think he also collects dead bodies in the basement?
• Does the name Chuck Quackenbush ring a bell? He was the Insurance Commissioner for Califorina until he was forced to resign amid corruption allegations in 2000. Gosh, I wonder what he's doing now. Probably tanning on a beach...wait, oh, um, turns out he is now a Sherrif's deupty and just shot a suspect in Florida who was allegedly resisting arrest. OK, now he can go and tan on the beach as Chuck was placed on paid administrative leave.
• More bad news for area newspapers as positions at the Long Beach Press-Telegram were eliminated recently. Earlier in February, the LA Times reported they were going to cut up to 150 jobs and this week, the Daily News cut 22 people from their staff. Christ people, don't you read on paper anymore? I mean, when you're not checking LAist and the hundreds of other sites we link to, that is?
• Speaking of the LA Times, new owner Sam Zell stands to profit to the tune of $15 million if an eminent domain a June ballot initiative passes. Just think how many strip club ads he could buy with that.
• Owing mostly to the Writers Strike, L.A. County lost more than 75,000 jobs from December to January.
• Victoria's Secret is saying its line of revealing lingerie is too sultry and will "get back to the ultra feminine and not just sexy look." In other news, 300 million men started a letter writing campaign today with Justin Timberlake as their spokesman.
• John Wooden, Bruin legend and inventor of winning, remains in the hospital but is "in good spirits" after he fell Thursday night and broke his left wrist and collar bone. I have a feeling beating Arizona tomorrow will really help lift the spirits of the 97-year-old former UCLA coach.
• Tomorrow is the L.A .Marathon. Don't say we didn't warn you. Good luck to all those running, walking, cycling and wheelchairing!
  Continue reading "Extra, Extra: Broken Homes and Broken Bones"

Tomorrow is the 23rd Annual LA Marathon, and the multiple races taking place in the city as a part of the day-long event are going to compromise a great many of our streets.

More Pictures From the Surf City Marathon/Half Marathon

Let me start off by saying that I don’t particularly enjoy running. No matter what, during the first ten minutes of my run I feel like I’m about to die. Afterwards, my legs can get so sore it hurts to even walk. Nevertheless, I easily get stressed out from life and work and running helps relieve the tension. Ultimately, it makes me feel good and that's why I continue to do it.

We got a hold of Metro's internal e-mail newsletter (after the jump) that talked about the LA Marathon and this what we think: 1. It is a good newsletter for operational insight. 2. Why the hell is it just internal? 3. This is more informative and transparent than anything we have seen from Metro, even if it is a bit of fluff. 4. It is important for Metro to communicate like this with their...

Right before the LA Marathon they held a 5K in downtown. A guy in a Mexican wrestling mask ran the three miles and his buddy filmed some of it.

After getting less than 1 hour of sleep and not having enough time to properly stretch before the event, Gold Inferno turned heads as he ran through the streets of Los Angeles. Wearing the mask not only made it hot, but also ensured that Gold Inferno could not drink any water.

Continue reading "The Gold Inferno Runs A 5K"

- On his blog, Matt Welch often frowns on MLB teams giving huge sums of money to over-30-year-old baseball players (because they're fragile), so when 31-year-old David Beckham hurt his knee today, we thought of Welch cackling from his ivory tower - LA Times - For the second year in a row there was a fatality at the LA Marathon. This year a 50-year-old bicyclist had a heart attack and died at S. Catalina...

Kings 4, Ducks 3, OT - LAist revels in rivalries, especially local ones. Take Los Angeles and Anaheim. Despite gaining parity in baseball and cartoon production, they've seen a major gap in hockey. The Kings are at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, while the Ducks have spent most of the season on top. Yet when the teams face off, that doesn't mean a thing. Los Angeles won in overtime, giving them three wins...

In case you missed the banners on every major street in town and the commercials on KNBC, it's time for the LA Marathon. Even if your idea of a workout is walking to the TV when the batteries in your remote die, this event is likely to have an impact on your life. About 26,000 runners will pound 26.2 miles of pavement on Sunday morning. That's right, 26.2 miles of street closures for just the...

Monday Barbara Hambly presents Patriot Hearts: A Novel of Founding Mothers 7pm @ Vroman’s Tess Gallagher reads from Dear Ghosts 7:30pm @ Geffen Playhouse Tuesday George Hass presents Forcing Nature: Trees in Los Angeles 7pm @ Book Soup Margaret MacMillan presents Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World 7pm @ Central Library T Cooper & Chris Abani present their latest books 7:30pm @ Skylight Books Caille Millner presents The Golden Road: Notes...

We asked and some LA Video Bloggers responded. 88Slide is a daily trivia challenge with actual prizes and a very local focus. Today's episode is taken on our own subway (the red line we think) and in the past few weeks they've had episodes on the LA Marathon and LA's first Gay Rugby team. We like that one and not just because Rachel, the lovely host, is rockin' a kickass Manchester rugby shirt and some incredible shorts.