LA Marathon 2012 Results: Why Race Must Be Considered Among World's Top Events

In America, when people think of marathons, they think of the Boston, New York and Chicago.

Worldwide, people generally add the London Marathon to the elite class as well.

The Los Angeles Marathon is quickly becoming just as good as these four marathons, and has the chance to be even better.

London, Boston, Chicago and New York can't exactly offer the same beautiful weather and scenery that LA can.

But, it's not just the fact that runners can run along the ocean or past the legendary Dodger Stadium that makes this race so appealing.

It is actually starting to draw some very strong talent to southern California.

For example, the 2012 version of the race featured some of the world's best marathoners. The women's winner was Ethiopian Fatuma Sado, who posted the race's fourth-best time ever with a 2:25:39 run.

On the men's side, the winner was Kenyan Simon Njoroge, who posted a very impressive time of 2:12:12 en route to the victory.

Njoroge, a world-class marathoner in his own right, was the brother of the deceased 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal marathon runner Samuel Wanjiru.

If the Los Angeles Marathon can continue drawing stars like that to its event, it will eventually get the respect it deserves.

Keeping it in the middle of March will help out its popularity too, since most places are too cold to have March marathons.

With more than 20,000 participants each year, it will eventually start getting the respect it deserves worldwide.

After all, who doesn't enjoy a nice long run on the beach?