This is a good race, well organized as people attest to below. I did not have any problems with the buses to the start, but I was there early. The course is flat as advertised, and the setting urban as expected. The view of the mountains is nice but you are not running in the countryside - don't expect spectacular views. The volunteers were definitely great. Bands were there as promised. The 7:40 start is a bit late since it got warm quickly once the sun was out. Start could be pushed a bit earlier. Nice medal. Yogurt at the end would be a nice addition. All in all, highly efficient race with an "industry production" feel to it. Eminently doable and nice, but lacking a strong attraction or charm to want to come back, esp. if you have to travel for it.

Well, I only ran the half, but most comments can be applied to the half or the full.

Pros:
-Big expo.
-Lots of other people.
-Bands gave you something to listen to and enjoy.
-Cheerleaders along course gave good support.
-Finish-line area well organized.
-Free evening concert.

However, there were many cons:
-The shuttle bus situation was horrible. The runners' instructions encouraged people to park at the finish and take the free shuttle. We waited in line for an hour, and we had arrived very early. The line grew even longer behind us, and when we passed other pick-up areas the lines were even worse. I don't see how everyone made it to the start in time. This was very poorly planned.
-The course was boring. You run down a street with run-down strip malls on both sides.
- Many of the bands were on break or had not started playing when I passed.
- The spectators who are not part of an organized cheerleader group just stand on the side of the street with their hands in their pockets not cheering or making noise at all.

Overall, the race was fun, but I would give this race a few more years to work out more of the bugs.

This was my 8th marathon, and the poorest organized. I arrived to the shuttle parking more than an hour before the start of the race yet did not make it to the start line until 10 minutes after the race started!!! There were no bathrooms avaliable for us while we were standing in line. This was a terrible way to start a marathon. Needless to say, there were a lot of agitated and uncomfortable runners in line. A suggestion would be to have more buses and bathrooms available. On a positive note, the course was nice and flat, and the spectators were great!!

This is the largest marathon I've yet to be involved in. The expo was fantastic! I loved all the great logo items. And many of the bands were surprisingly good. It was nice to see they were under tents. Obviously, the organizers didn't pinch pennies in areas such as those. Crowd support was really great, also. However, a lot of that crowd support was simply Team in Training, and similar groups. It will be nice when more of the regular citizens catch the bug and come out to cheer the runners on!

The few complaints that I have are these. The food at the finish line was minimal, and there was nothing hot. And what was with those silly green sandals??? I would much rather have had a finisher's shirt! The worst thing was that as I came toward the finish line, I actually had cars coming towards me on the street! How in the world did they allow people to park in an area that would put them driving in the same place as the finishers coming into the stadium? It took me a minute to decide I was actually in the right place, even though there were still people lining the route.

Oh, and the medallions were both great! Very attractive and heavy, for both the marathon and the half.

I read some comments and wonder if I ran in the same event. The parking issues from the first years have been resolved, never had a problem getting to a bus. I heard some folks were waiting for buses in the outlying parking lots, so maybe better signage to the main bus pick-up would help. The crowds on the marathon course have greatly increased in numbers and locations as residents become used to this annual event. Enjoyed the bands, especially the few unofficial bands set-up in the driveways. Another water stop needs to be added between mile 23 and 25, especially for us "value" runners that are on the course longer when the temps are reaching their peak, and the return of the popsicles was much appreciated. It seems that most of the issues from the prior years have been resolved or reduced. I may be biased because I enjoy this race and am a former AZ resident, but going to the Valley of the Sun during the winter is a true no-brainer decision.

I only have 2 recommendations for the organizers:

1. Don't make the runners walk to the family reunion area with the spectators.
2. Have extra help at the finish-line food area around the 4-hour mark.

I was looking forward to this race since it would be my first but I was somewhat disappointed. The expo was fun but it was so crowded that I hardly had room to manuever to each booth, so I gave up and went home.

The beginning of the course was great.... The volunteers were enthusiastic and there was ample music and spectators but it all tapered off towards the end.

Towards the end I didn't see any bands or spectators with the exception of at the finish line. Stations had run out of PowerAde and the cheerleaders lost their enthusiasm.

The finish-line area was so confusing. It was impossible to find anything or anyone. There was plenty of food, although I wasn't expecting to see donuts and beer. The family reunion area was a dust bowl and too small for the number of people trying to locate families. I did like the gear-check area which was the only area I could clearly see with all of the brown UPS trucks. I was disappointed with the welcoming at the finish line also. I was expecting high fives and congratulations with people excited about giving out the medals, but I practically had to beg to get my finisher's medal and no one said congrats or gave me a high five.

Being from Arizona I liked the familiarity of the course and the scenery but I wouldn't recommend this to people who are planning on traveling hundreds of miles to run it.

This was my first marathon so I wasn't really sure what to expect but I do hope that my next one is more enjoyable.

I developed very severe hip pain and tried to get a ride to the finish, as I was running in agony. I stopped at mile 9 and mile 11 and mile 12, and asked the police to radio for help, which never materialized... so I hobbled along. I race frequently and have never seen such poor medical response.

Did their first marathon and overall it was great, but it was quite a mess at the start (late, etc.). Now this year, 2006, my husband and I did the 1/2 marathon. Over all, it was great, but when you have that large a race and it's so expensive to enter, you do expect to get PowerAde. But for the walkers, their was none until 11-mile mark. And by then you are in dire need of it. What a disappointment!! One H2O stop didn't even have cups for the H2O.

They need to work on this problem. I paid as much as the fast runners, but didn't get the same treatment. Otherwise, the rest was fine. Parking and transportation were well organized this year.

This is the second Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon that I have completed. Since this group puts on so many events per year, I expected it to be very well run and organized. We got to the shuttle 30 minutes before they suggested. We stood in line for an hour and a half waiting to get on a bus (and it was a 30-minute ride to the start). No one would tell us what was going on, so we all just sat there hoping that we would make the start. While all of us were waiting, there was only 1 port-o-let and it was over a fence and up a hill. When we finally got to the front of the line we heard that the buses had been caught in traffic by the race. Why didn't they account for traffic and other incidents that might occur (like have more buses or an alternate route)? I have no idea.

We finally got to the start around a half hour after the race started. We were supposed to be in corral 2, but ended up watching corral 25 leave (the last corral). We had to make our way through many corrals of walkers. The announcer left and there were still buses of people showing up. (We weren't even close to the end of the shuttle line.)

The water stops were not clearly marked, so you had no idea if water or Powerade came first or when they switched from one to the other. The first 5 tables or so of each stop were empty and it was a free-for-all of people fighting to get something. I find it odd that the Chicago Marathon can keep tables well stocked for 40,000 runners and they can't for 13,000 or so. We kept going and luckily there were more tables, but that was always a gamble because, again, there were no signs letting us know. I guess they either ran out of water or they were partially sponsered by city water because after the 3rd stop the water tasted so terrible that I couldn't drink it - really bad tap. The last water stop only had water on the right side instead of both - so a very large mass of people were on the right side fighting for water on empty tables.

The fan support was very little. There were a few places when I did see fans, which was nice. It was okay though, because there were lots of people walking/running and they kept me entertained. It's not a scenic route - most of the race is on a major road and you are just looking at strip centers, etc. The part through Tempe was very nice - lots of people and fun area.

The finish wasn't really organized either. To get to the food you had to pass through an area to take pics in front of a R-N-R screen. It was very difficult to get through the lines and over to the food. (Pics taken straight across the walk-through, not just on the outside). Also, couldn't find the beer tent afterwards for our free beer.

The weather was fantastic.

Overall, we really enjoyed the vacation in AZ. I think simple things could have been done in this race to make it much better. Seems like they still have a lot of kinks to work out.