After the Los Angeles Marathon: Santa Monica and Venice

The Route: Downtown LA → Santa Monica → Venice Beach → Downtown LA Logistics: Metro E Line direct from Downtown to Downtown Santa Monica Station, around 45-50 minutes, then a short Big Blue Bus ride or a flat walk south along the beach path to Venice. Marathon Month: March Duration: Day trip

Downtown LA ──(Metro E Line, ~45-50 mins)──> Downtown Santa Monica ──(Big Blue Bus or beach path)──> Venice Beach
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                                                              Downtown LA ◄──(Metro E Line, return)─────────┘

The Stadium to the Stars course finishes at Avenue of the Stars in Century City, a good distance inland from the ocean, so the day after the ASICS Los Angeles Marathon is often the first chance to actually see the Pacific. The Metro E Line runs the whole distance from Downtown to the coast without a car, taking around 45 to 50 minutes for the full line, which makes this the easiest low-effort day on the list.

March on the LA coast runs cooler and greyer than inland March, where the marathon itself can turn surprisingly hot; a morning marine layer that burns off by afternoon is typical, and a layer worth carrying rather than wearing is the practical call. The coast is often the cooler option on the same day inland LA is warm, which suits legs that have already done enough work in the heat.

Downtown Santa Monica Station sits at 4th Street and Colorado Avenue, close to the Santa Monica Pier and the wide, flat promenade that runs along the bluffs above the beach. From here, the Big Blue Bus (Line 1 heading south) reaches Venice in around 15 minutes, or the beach path itself offers a longer, entirely flat walk of a little over two miles for anyone wanting to stretch tired legs gently rather than sit on a bus.

The Venice Beach Boardwalk runs for roughly two miles along the sand, a wide paved promenade with no gradient at all, past the muscle beach courts, street performers and the canal-adjacent streets a few blocks inland. It is one of the most visited stretches of coastline in Southern California, and on a Sunday afternoon after a marathon it is also one of the most reliably entertaining ways to spend a couple of hours without asking the legs to do any real work.

Santa Monica Pier itself, back at the northern end of this route, has an amusement park and a chance to look back down the length of beach just walked; the pier deck itself is flat, though getting up onto it involves a short ramp rather than stairs.

Getting Home

Return to Downtown LA on the same Metro E Line from Downtown Santa Monica Station, the reverse of the outbound journey at roughly the same 45 to 50 minutes. Trains run frequently through the day, so there is no need to plan around a specific departure the way a longer rail journey out of the city would require.