This was my first full marathon. I chose it due to a close family member moving to the area a year ago and having Runners World list it as one of the best for first-time marathoners.

Overall positives: it was well-organized, lots of great volunteers, good signage,it was a mostly flat course, they didn't run out of water, Gatorade or Gu on the course and there was lots of food and drink left at the finish line, even for us slower runners.

Overall negatives: it was a fairly boring course, not a lot of crowd support along most of the route, the bands were too far apart (especially for us slower runners), and there were light rail delays to the start line, resulting in a delayed start.

I got to the light rail nice and early and had no problems arriving in plenty of time for the scheduled start. But the rail cars were packed and lots of people had to stand for the full 30-odd minute ride, which isn't something I would have liked to do, before a marathon. They need to add more frequent trains if they do this again next year. Gear check (and retrieval) was nice and easy. There were lots of hydration stations all along the route and no one ran out of water, Gatorade or Gu, even for us slower runners, which made me very happy. I was carrying my own water and Gu/gel, just in case. One of the water stops - can't remember which one - did taste funny but the rest tasted fine and I had no ill effects from anything I ate or drank. I was also happy that they used Gatorade instead of Cytomax.

I didn't like the out-and-back on Indian School Road. It seemed to last forever and there was very little musical entertainment in that area.

I knew that the post-race entertainment was timed for the Half Marathoners and the faster Marathoners. I was glad that I had taken advantage of a special registration price on National Running Day back in June because RNR races tend to be pretty expensive. The Expo was great but a list of vendors would have been extremely helpful and there was no such list available at all. We went on Friday and it wasn't crowded at all.

This was my first marathon, and I probably couldn't have asked for a better one. Except for the delay at the beginning and the out and back on Indian School Road in Scottsdale (which seemed to go on forever in both directions), it was a great experience! Having the flat, fast course helped and I actually felt pretty strong, coming from high altitude running in Colorado.

I personally didn't have problems with the water, sports drink or GU, and there was enought fan support for me along the way. What I also liked were the coaches from the charity teams also giving us non-charity runners support. They were especially helpful when my feet started to cramp up at mile 10.

Having said all of that, I probably won't be doing RnR's for a while. Now that I've done the Denver half twice and the Arizona half three years ago, they need to get some new sponsors and new swag and freebies for the participants. I'm kind of tired of getting the same stuff over and over again, and would like to have a better designed t-shirt...and lower prices!

This was the best year I have run as far as water station and Goo support. Fantastic. Being separated from the half made the run much more organized. The support along the way was fantastic. Please spread my thanks.
LOVED IT!! AZ MARATHON IS THE BEST!

I ran the 1/2 marathon this year, an upgrade from the relay last year. The Expo was great (I went on Friday AFTER work) - ZERO lines and not crowded, but a white shirt...come on...probably not the best color.

I live in Chandler, not too far from the start so my dad and I ended up at the start nearly a full HOUR before the race start. We had no problems with parking in the garage because we paid attention to race day materials and got there early.

It was a little disappointing that the race started late but I fully understand their reason behind it and the race officials didn't sugar coat the reason for the delay.

My only issues were the water, which was worse than usual for PHX tap water. I found my self using it more to wet my whistle than actually drink.

I wasn't crazy about last year's course and was glad to see a change but I still wasn't blown away, especially since I drive most of the course to work every day! The first mile down Mill was fun but University up McClintock was a snooze! Galvin Parkway was probably the highlight but at that point I was on auto pilot and so focused on the finish I couldn't enjoy it.

There also seemed to be far fewer bands, cheer teams, & spectators on the course this year which was disappointing.

Overall I had a great time and can't wait to run it again!

One of the best RnR events that I have attended. Too many complainers that just have it in for RnR and blame the organization for their poor planning. Parking was easy and plentiful at the start of the marathon. Travel back down town was a breeze. The course was not the most scenic nor was it the best attended, but there was some great course support along the way.

Water stations were well stocked and the water did not taste any worse than any other tap water I've drunk. I drank at nearly every station and did not suffer any ill effects. The delay at the start could have been handled better, but had minimal impact on me and most of the runners around me. I still ended up with a big PR.

Pretty much what you would expect from the formulated RnR Series event. Expo and course set up was well planned, plenty of water stops and porta potties on route. T-shirt design is pretty much meh. Extra services like massage, special warm up area are a la carte extra $$$.

I'm a worrier so I made sure I arrived at the finish area parking structure at 5:30am to take the Light Rail to the start area for the 7:30am start, so I had no problems with traffic. Did you really delay the start for 30 minutes for the sake of a half dozen late runners on the Light Rail and mess up 3800 marathoners, hydration schedule? Glad I was in the corral near the porta potties.

Course is pancake flat except a few risers near the end. Route is mainly boring main streets with strip malls, but a few nice neighbourhoods. I had no problem with the water, though one cup did taste a little funny, but didn't bother my stomach. Two GU stations were well stocked. Good thing the theme cheer squads, band and a decent amount of spectators were around, otherwise it would be really boring. Highlights were the loop around downtown Scottsdale and the Salt River Bridge crossing. Thank you for making the right sacrifices to the weather gods as the temps were cool and sky was overcast.

Post race food and bag recovery was smooth. Surprised that there wasn't any Chinese food provided post race by P.F. Chang's, the main sponsor. Noodles, rice and spring rolls would have been awesome post race food. B-52s put on a decent, but uninspired show, except for Kate Pierson who was very animated, the rest of the band seemed bored.

I ran the full, as I have every year since the inaugural PF Chang's, and I have only minor suggestions for improvement. In general, this is a very well-organized event, one I'm pleased to travel to Arizona for every year.

I liked this year's course changes, even if the uphills at the end were a little unwelcome. The race now finishes with a run over the Mill Ave bridge, which is a vast improvement over the old desolate run down the wide Hayden / McClintock / University roads. I liked the new start area; arriving on light rail was easy. I left my Tempe hotel at 6am and the light rail timing worked out well for pre-race potty and gear check stops.

The half hour delay at the start was stupid. There's no need to hold up the start of the race for a chip-timed event; they could have easily just left the start line open longer if they wanted to cater to late arrivers. The expo is always an overcrowded mess, and this year was no exception; I dread it every time. Mile 4 on the marathon course was mismarked by about 1/10 of a mile, but that was only a minor irritant.

Overall, I enjoyed the fan support, the cheer squads were great, the lack of bands this year wasn't a negative for me (I enjoyed the bands I heard), I liked the course, and I'm already signed up to run it again next year.

(PS I have no idea why people are blaming the race for iodine poisoning. I took water at every stop on the course and had no such issues.)

This is the fourth full R and R marathon in Phoenix I have done. I'm not too crazy about the new course but I think it was because I was use to th old one. The weather was perfect! The delay at the beginning was frustrating but it didn't get too hot that day so it wasn't much of a factor once we started.

Wow, I was sufficiently warned about Rock-n-Roll events so maybe I was more prepared for worse than I got.

I committed to this race on National Runners day back in June and got a fairly reasonable price for a full marathon. Had I paid the expo price or anything close to it, I definitely would have found the swag/price ratio to be disappointing. The almost endless come-ons for add-ons (VIP pottys, various pre-race concerts, etc.) were annoying (but anticipated).

The hotel I booked was right on the light rail (Apache Blvd) east of ASU and the half course. Early on, I had inquired about a race map and got a quick but not useful reply. So I resigned myself to a long walk to the marathon start (based on where it was the year before) from the light rail. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the new course map with the full starting right on the light rail thus affirming my no car strategy (free shuttles from the airport to the light rail helped here too).

The expo was incredible; clearly put together by someone with an advanced degree in retail planning. The main event sponsors (Brooks, PF Changs and Dodge) definitely got their monies worth. I benefited from the course video and the information desk but the pace team desk was clogged by too many people complaining about Vegas.

On race day, the light rail was crowded but I still got a seat. When the half-marathoners exited, it was not that crowded at all the rest of the way downtown. Maybe more locals should have utilized the park-n-ride? I found a below ground parking garage right on the start line to hang out in and made my way into my corral for the start. Was too busy chatting up a cute attorney from Chicago to hear the first delay announcement but it was warm enough to not matter that much. Cloud cover prevented a late start from mattering much at the end either.

No water problems for me and I took something at every station (I did carry 20 oz of my own though too). Everything was great and plentiful at the end. The post race concert was well done but I did also feel like this race was primarily for half-marathoners. The entertainment on the (full) course was not nearly as plentiful as my own home town race.

I could see myself recommending this race and/or doing a RnR event again.

After hearing about the debacle in Vegas - I was a little skeptical. Unfortunately, some of my fears came to life.

1 - Shirt color was disappointing. Personally not a big fan of white.
2 - Delay at the start. This is absolutely unacceptable. Runners have geared their nutrition/fluid intake specifically for a set start time. Delaying it 30 minutes can have a large impact on that. There were only a few runners on the last light rails that came after the originally scheduled time. Why punish the masses for a few that couldn't understand the concept of getting there early? The timing of the announcement was horrible. 10 minutes before the scheduled start when people are starting to strip their throwaways.
3 - Water on the course. I firmly believe that some sort of iodine or sanitizing element was added to the water in an overreaction to the Vegas issues. It had a horrible taste to it and while I understand that Phoenix tab water has a bad taste, I was in town since Friday and it didn't taste anything like that. 7 of the 8 in my group that ran the full/half had signs of iodine poisoning (upset stomach, diarrhea, runny nose, metallic taste, nausea).

I am officially done after running my first and only Rock n' Roll event. I can overlook minor inconveniences, but when they are playing with the health of people, that is where I draw the line.