I have an oversized two man wrist rocket. Can launch waterballoons two blocks. Wanna lob a few from your patio over breakfast?

There’s a better (simpler) map at
http://trafficinfo.lacity.org/images/07CityofAngelsHalfMarathonRouteMap.pdf
which gives the closing and opening times and doesn’t take a long time to download.
Thanks for the heads up…..now to plan around this…..
As with the big LA thing, I wonder exactly who does benefit from this besides the runners. I would be interested to see what it costs the city and if they bill those costs to the promoter. It looks like any crowd at all would be at the end of the race, which is downtown. When they’re talking about cutting back on library services due to budget shortfall, I tend to be critical of any event which requires city services and doesn’t benefit a large segment of the population.

A chunk of the race entry fees go toward paying for the police and emergency services for race-related and traffic-related costs. As far as I know, cities rarely actually incur any of their own expenses from events like this.

As for wondering who benefits from this besides runners, there are tons of things that happen in the city every day that benefit some and inconvenience others. (e.g. street fairs, film shoots, etc)… in this case, there will be thousands of runners… it’s probably the second or third largest sporting event, in terms of participants in LA County (after the LA Marathon, and maybe one other that I’m not thinking of right now). And as a nonprofit race, the net proceeds will go to charity.

Map of Street closures

As with the big LA thing, I wonder exactly who does benefit from this besides the runners.

Weel for starters, it prompts posts from whiny provincial bloggers, which generates reader traffic. Given a good CPM you’re probably looking at a few bucks coming right back to Metblogs. So try to force a smile when one of those runners scoots past you on Sunday; it’s money in your pocket.

sf_davidk doesn’t get it. Bloggers don’t make a dime off it, at least us here.
Water Ballon canon anyone?

Either run the marathon or don’t run it, what is this half crap?

water
balloons

the year before last, the 1/2 marathon donated $10,000.00 to at least one low income Silver Lake school (Micheltorena Street School). I know other local low income schools and non profits recieved funds as well. And its only one day a year for a few hours, get over it.

This is actually progress.

Usually when street closures are announced, they just say “STREET CLOSED SUNDAY” without giving so much as an explanation. At least you know now that there’s a Half Marathon going on.

And people who ignorantly whine about the seemingly useless purpose of Half Marathons should know that though they originated in localities that either do not have the room for a full 26.2, a Half Marathon provides an important first step for those making the eventual foray into the big 26.2, or those who are currently in training for one. A number of the big LA Marathon training groups (i.e. Roadrunners) have mandatory participation in the Half Marathon as part of their training regimen.