Great place to run your first or 100th marathon

Running the island at the end of the marathon is a very difficult task. Once across the finish line there was chaos trying to find our shuttle to our hotel. An exhausted runner is in no shape to walk 2 miles that was necessary to find our shuttle. Please fix this big problem.

This wasn't my first RnR event, so I knew what to expect in terms of event organization and logistics. These folks get more right than wrong across the board, but there are always trade-off's it seems in any RnR event. I figured out three things ahead of time. The first was to stay close to the finish area - it was about a mile back to my hotel. The second was to cab it to the start and arrive psycho early - cabs were already arriving at the hotel at 4am and I shared the ride/fare with two really nice runners who walked down at the same time. We were dropped literally right at the start line. The third thing was to make peace with the course, warts and all. I loved what I got to see of San Diego along the marathon route. Going through the ball park was great. I thought running on the closed freeway was actually kind of cool. I didn't like the out-and-back's either but knew they were coming. The worst of the course was indeed the last 6 miles though. The park trail when I came through was extremely slow and crowded. The island loop which followed amounted to a spectatorless, featureless slog to the finish. That was a shame. It was an extremely uninspiring course design element until you began to hit the finishing chute. Otherwise, the Expo was quick and easy, even though it was very crowded when I came through on Saturday. The water/Cytomax stops and the two Gu stops were plenty to get me through the race. I too noticed that there was a lack of on course signage demarking the Half and Full routes, especially compared with what I have seen at other RnR events. And some of the course marshalls were not shouting out the course changes as they needed to have been without the necessary signage. I can see how some people were able to get confused and maybe off course. As I say, I would do this one over again, but only the way that I was able to do it. Had I not been able to stay close to the finish, I don't see how this would have worked at all. The limited number of roads coming into the finish area, mixed with the summer throng trying to get into Sea World must have made this a nightmare for those trying to get in to the finish, back home or into the city.

loved it! Is there somewhere we can see results for HALF marathon? love the way you graphed the results for the full marathon! I'd like to see how I did compared to others in my age range :)

RnR has great production capabilities, but 163, 2 out and backs, 3 miles on a hot dusty island at the end and finishing in a hot, uncomfortable parking lot was awful. Great logistics and great start.

Can someone that ran the 2011 San Diego Rock and Roll marathon with a Garmin please post what they recorded for the distance of miles 6 to 7 to 8 to 9 to 10? My splits seemed really strange through these markers, even when taking into account the elevation changes. Just curious.

As for the race, there was a lot to love. The expo was fun, nice t-shirt, nice medal, some really nice moments on the course (Balboa park was awesome), nice starting area... I didn't care for the Fiesta Island bit, nor did I enjoy ending my day in a disgusting parking lot.

Overall, though, for the number of runners, I thought they did a great job.

I read the comments before my registration to the marathon and I thought it was going to be a bad experience. But now after that Ive got my PR in this great course. The organization was pretty good. I did not like the medal, and there were no spectators on the course. But Ill be there next year.

I did the full marathon as part of Team in Training, and we flew in from South Carolina. I did not have any of the logistical issues other runners faced because everything we did was organized by TNT, who did an amazing job!

Good:
1. The expo was huge, and they had beer for $1. Can't beat it. I went on Friday and had no issues with crowding.
2. The medal and shirt are great.
3. Most of the course is very pretty.
4. Spectators are great and very enthusiastic
5. You're never alone on the course

Bad
1. Running on concrete. I'm sorry, but it's absolutely insane to put the last 5-6 miles of a race on concrete. Any runner knows how much harder it is impact-wise on your joints, and I was in so much pain I had to pull off onto the grass repeatedly.
2.The loops - everyone complains about them, and they really are demoralizing, especially when you're running uphill for what seems like forever and you're watching everyone else run downhill.
3. The finish is in a parking lot. I don't normally care where the finish is because I'm so relieved to be done, but there was nowhere to sit, no shade, etc.
4. The areas where the full and half marathoners split were very confusing. There was no signage and if you didn't happen to hear a volunteer say 'half left, full right,' you could easily end up on the wrong course.

I didn't mind the highway miles, at least they came early in the race and it's a pretty highway. My biggest problem is the concrete and the last 3 miles of the race run on 'Fiesta Island.' It is not a fiesta. It is a boiling hot sand dune of pain. I had a great experience overall, but there's got to be better races than this for the money.

Just ran S.D. and for a city as beautiful as San Diego is, the course didn't capture it. There is a LOOOONNNGGG stretch of the course that runs on the interstate - baking in the sun, with no spectators, and no support. I ran past the only band on the highway, and they played their last song as I passed - I finished in the top 1,000 runners - feel really sorry for the other 39,000 people behind me. I might have let all of this slide if I actually knew my time! the chip didn't catch the start time - no idea why, and Competitor hasn't fixed it yet. What do you get for $80 bucks?!

Perhaps considering previous comments here when planning my weekend, I enjoyed this race very much. I was in and out of the number pickup in 20 minutes first thing Saturday morning, to avoid the race morning traffic I took a cab to the start (at 4am, so sat around for awhile but it was no big deal) and stayed at the Mission Bay Hilton so just had a 1.5 mile walk back to the hotel to avoid post-race traffic. Full and half marathoners were separated by cones or median at all times they shared a road so no actual 're-merging'. So yes, a bit more planning is required than at most other marathons but your experience can still be enjoyable. I agree with a previous poster that folks are being a bit hard on this race, though given the high entry cost it is reasonable to have high expectations.