What's it like running LA's half marathon through the bakery? The sweetest thing isn't the pastries

It was 6:20 a.m., and the Chaumont Bakery & Cafe in Santa Monica was already bustling with lo-fi music and the chatter of dozens of people wearing bibs — not for eating (though that's exactly what they did), but the kind you'd wear to a race. In this case, the LA Bakery Walk Half Marathon.

According to the organizer, about 2,000 people registered to take part in the February event and raffled off 100 tickets for the opportunity to run more than 13 miles through LA's West Side and eat multiple baked goods in eight hours.

LA may not be the most walkable city, but adding six bakery stations makes the steps (30,000 of them) easier. It helps that new bakeries are popping up all over the city, where the wellness culture can interfere with the treat culture.

For participants Dganit Shtorch and Michelle Boll, the bakery walk was an opportunity to slow down their LA Marathon training and a rare chance to see the city in all its glory on foot.

“You just sit in your little car box and nobody talks to each other and you can't do anything,” said Shtorch, an architect. “But here, when you have the opportunity to walk, you suddenly start seeing people. You see more and it's a different perspective of the city that you can actually experience.”

Irene Chang, a 25-year-old technician, created the event last year and hosted a 50-person half marathon run through the Pasadena-Highland Park area in November that featured popular bakeries such as ID-Eclair and Neighbors & Friends.

“Everyone just has their own reason for being there,” Chang said. “But at the end of the day, we just have fun walking and eating.”

The event exploded on social media, garnering thousands of likes and views Instagram andTikTok. The comment sections were full of people begging for a round 2.

So on a recent Sunday, 100 people — some early risers, others ready to get up early for pastries — gathered for the trek to Chaumont, Fat + Flour, Häsi Bread, Manifold and Petitgrain Boulangerie, on a loop that started in Santa Monica and wound through Mar Vista and Venice before heading back to the sea.

In return for opening earlier, Chaumont encountered a steady stream of people in desperate need of caffeine and slowly coming to terms with the miles they had signed up for.

Half marathon runners mingled in a spacious outdoor area of ​​the Colorado Avenue Bakery at 7 a.m., bumping shoulders and breaking the ice.

Just as the sky became bluer and the sun rose, Chang stood on a chair to attract everyone's attention. “If you can hear me, clap twice.”

She led a group route, and Chaumont staff began rolling out trays of freshly baked pastries and tea. Before any steps could be taken, the first person in line for pastries grabbed a vegan strawberry croissant filled with custard in one hand and a za'atar jalapeno olive roll in the other.

As the sunlight grew stronger, so did the conversations, and groups began to gather as they headed to the nearest bakery, four miles away: Fat + Flour in Culver City, known for owner Nicole Rucker's cakes.

But this group was there for the white chocolate macadamia cookies. Attendees streamed out of the store and onto the street, with the line for a cookie almost as long as the line for the bathroom. Layers of sweat-wicking long-sleeved shirts were peeled off and sunscreen reapplied.

Just a half-mile up Washington Boulevard at Häsi Bread, the living room-like setting and tight quarters made for more conviviality as everyone waited for the viral bakery's prosciutto cheese sandwich with saba, arugula, and local blackberry jam on sourdough bread marbled with turmeric and butterfly pea flowers.

Häsi owners Matias and Dawn Barang said they have a constant flow of regulars and designed the bakery, which opened last year near Mar Vista, with the community in mind.

“Entering other people’s communities is like ours, pun intended, bread and butter,” Dawn Barang said.

Many of the walkers traveled from Pasadena, Burbank and even Orange County for the event.

“It was nice to try new things you never expected to try,” said Mia Dixon of Pasadena. “It's given us more exposure. So we're going to tell more people, 'You should try this place.'”

In a surprise stop, Uncle Tetsu Japanese Bakery on Sawtelle Boulevard delivered samples of fluffy soufflé-style cheesecake and a selection of matcha and Oreo cookies.

“It's moist, it's fresh. It's my favorite,” Priscilla Noriega said of the cheesecake.

Noriega, who traveled from the Valley for the event, used the walk as an opportunity to explore: “It's helpful to know which bakeries to go to and where to get my goods,” she said as she tucked away a cookie for her husband.

After drawing confused looks all over Venice, crossing neighborhoods and winding along Abbott Kinney, the group ended up at Matt Ricotta's house. Ricotta founded the plant-based Manifold Bakery in late 2024, selling pre-orders for pickup and later hosting pop-ups in his backyard in Venice. He has since taken a break to work on a stationary structure.

Exclusively for the bakery visitors, Ricotta prepared his signature brioche bun filled with matcha and pistachio cream, topped with whipped vegan cream cheese and a pistachio macaroon.

They were a crowd favorite.

“Oh my God, this [bun] “It was literally butter,” said Evy Favretto, a native of Pasadena, where she attended high school with Dixon.

After gathering in Ricotta's lush backyard, some headed home or to their cars. They missed the last few miles.

After a final, highly anticipated stop at Petitgrain Boulangerie in Santa Monica, the nearly two-year-old bakery widely praised for its flaky, buttery pain au chocolat, the round finally came to an end. Oven-fresh chocolate croissants flew off the table – the only evidence: flakes of dough stuck to T-shirts.

At nearby tree-lined Douglas Park in Santa Monica, Little Treat Factory cookies, electrolyte drinks and, most importantly, the finish line awaited.

“June, you did it!” The group may have shrunk, but the entire community remained.