At Long Beach Marathon, running for fun, competition — and a cause

The smell of sweat and menthol pain reliever spray wafted in the cool breeze Sunday morning as runners from the JetBlue Long Beach Marathon & Half Marathon began to finish the scenic and grueling course.
Before the weekend began, race organizers said roughly 3,000 people had signed up to run the full marathon, a 26.2-mile course, while about 13,000 had signed up for the half-marathon, a 13.1-mile course. Nearly 17,000 participated in the event overall, which included Bike Tour and the 5k run