PROS
Very well organized, nice shirts, great finish festival with lots of food/drink, very fast course - not a hill to be found, efficient expo, shuttles were excellent, and the pre-race area was great (food and drink provided).

CONS
Very corporate feel, crowded expo, very boring and uninteresting course, and a crowded family meeting area (especially exiting).

I don't know what could be done to better the course. I drove around the city while there, and it was not too scenic. It is a very fast course, however - a great one to do if you are running for a BQ.

Very positive experience... my second Rock 'n' Roll event and a much better experience than the first one I ran (Seattle). Nice tech-tee, awesome finisher's medal, plenty of food, bands as advertised (if not more frequent), great cheering squads, awesome volunteers, excellent traffic control, etc. To boot, the weather was perfect, coupled with a very fast course - ideal for setting a PR.

Porta-potties were abundant... it seemed that there was one particular area where people were stacking up right after getting dropped off from the shuttle buses. I spotted several islands of porta-potties throughout as I walked in a little further and on my way to the start area. There where hardly any people around where I got in line; I walked up to a porta-potty where I was 3rd in place and was in the porta-potty within minutes!

I preface my comments on R 'n' R Arizona by saying that I only have the NYC Marathon (43,000+ finishers in 2010) for comparison:

Pros
-Very flat, uncomplicated course, so easy to PR
-Well organized (ample porta-potties compared to NYC scene)
-Perfect weather (in 2011 - cloud cover)
-7:40 a.m. start time (and it took less than a minute to cross the start line)
-Completely separate from the half marathon, so there was plenty of room to run with only 6,000 participants (I heard the half was a different story)
-Attractive medal, t-shirt and freebies at expo, as well as good food/drink options at finishing line
-Decent spectator turnout relative to the size of the marathon (cheerleader girls were adorable)
-Views of Camelback Mountain

Con
-Course was a bit dull (a 26.2-mile loop through strip malls and residential areas - I am generally not in favor of people wearing iPods during races but one would have come in handy in this instance).

I stayed at the Arizona Biltmore, which offered an excellent rate for race participants and was a stunning hotel and resort - while it required a taxi ride of $25 to and from the expo, it was way better than staying at one of the hotels in downtown Phoenix next to the convention center where the expo was held, which is in a dodgy commercial area with nothing to do or see. The Biltmore arranged a shuttle bus to and from the marathon.

The course is not overly scenic. But the flat course and perfect weather more than make up for it.

Plenty of volunteers throughout the course.

Lots of positives, to name a few:
-More than enough restroom facilities.
-Separate courses for the half and full.
-Well run expo.
-Very nice medal.

Only a couple negatives:
-The finish line organization was subpar. The medal distribution seemed like an afterthought. You had to almost seek them out.
-For those of us who are not local, some signs directing us to the correct parking lot, at the finish, would be helpful.

I ran this marathon on January 16, 2011. The expo was extensive and well organized. Lots of freebies. The race was well organized and the weather cooperated with cool temps and overcast skies. Lots of water stops, which were easy to navigate. Energy gel (GU) only available at mile 19 - they could have provided more. Bands were frequent - some were excellent, but some were just noise. Finish had lots of fans. Post-race party was excellent - good band, lots of food and nice people. Bag check and transportation were flawless. Buses to the start were numerous and easy to get to.

This was my first full marathon and I was very impressed with the organization and support for the event. The weather was absolutely perfect - 48 at the start with a little cloud cover, and 64 and sunny around noon. The aid stations were fully stocked with plenty of water and Cytomax, and the volunteers were friendly and encouraging. I was definitely impressed by the amount of support I saw on the course from the police and fire department - thank you for all of your support! Although the course was a bit boring at times, with lots of shopping malls and such, but it was very flat and fast! I definitely agree that more porta-potties are needed. I had to hold it too for the first 8 or so miles until I saw an opportunity to stop in a relatively short line. Otherwise, thank you R'n'R - you put on a great event!

I was in line at 7:10 to go to the restroom before the marathon began. In 15 minutes, the line barely moved. There were at least 20-25 people in line to use the restrooms. Around 7:35, I had to get out of line to go run the race. I was miserable for the first 8 miles. There NEED to be more porta-potties or there NEED to be porta-potties set specifically aside for just the runners. There may be enough porta-potties to accommodate the 6,000 runners, but not to accommodate the runners plus the many spectators.

I would love to see the course go north on 44st to Lincoln, then east to Scottsdale Road, then south down Scottsdale Road. I think this would enhance the course view. Also, we need porta-johns inside the corrals just for runners.

This race was very well organized, the expo was one of the best I have seen, and the conditions were perfect - a flat course with great weather.

One thing I must point out is that the volunteers handing out water/Cytomax were among the best I have seen - quite encouraging and they thanked us for running.

There isn't much to look at on the course, but it is flat and it opens up quickly so you aren't sandwiched in between thousands of people for the first couple of miles like most big races.

My one suggestion for improvement is to put one more water stop in between mile 24 and 26. It was rather hot by the time I got there (4 hours) and I would have felt safer giving it an extra kick at the end if I weren't so parched.

My biggest congratulations goes to whoever decided to put the family meet-up area on the cool grass of the nearby track. It was such a comfortable place to lie down and stretch! That gal/guy should get promoted.

This was my first Rock 'n' Roll race and I was very impressed by everything. The packet pickup was smooth and the expo was one of the better ones I have attended. Logistics for getting to the start line and getting home after the race are a bit tricky since the start and finish are over 10 miles apart, although there were several good maps which were provided. The race itself is almost perfect. The 2011 race had nearly perfect weather - cool, no wind, and cloud cover most of the morning. The course wasn't much on scenery, but the spectator support was pretty good. All of the roads were very wide, so after the first few miles, it was easy to navigate. The water stations were huge although I'm not a big fan of Cytomax. They also could have had more GU stations (only one at 18) and would've been nice to serve bananas. In terms of the hills, there are elevations changes on the course, but they are long gradual up and downhills and not challenging at all. There is one smaller "hill" at a bridge at mile 24, but that is all. Overall, a great weekend and I PR'd and BQ'd!!