Beautiful day, great course. My Garmin said it was close to 26.6, though, so if it's right, then that's a little upsetting. Maybe I'm just looking for a way to take a couple of minutes off my time! Anyhow, once they fix the problems of people waiting forever for the their bags and the shuttle buses, it will be a 5-star race.

The Alamadome should have been completely available for expo. Packet pick up was a nightmare. It was so crowded that we just picked up our packets and got out of there. I felt sorry for vendors who were squished into limited space.

The shuttle bus service was a total disaster. Need more buses and locations to accommodate 30,000 runners. We arrived 5 minutes before race time.

Otherwise, the spectators, band and volunteers were SUPER!

Take care of the above problems and we just might come back.

Just returning home from running the RNR San Antonio as a "destination marathon" and am searching for something good to say about it. OK, the weather was great. That's about it. The course: whoever designed it is not a runner. There are no fewer than two dozen pace-slowing 90-degree turns in the first 10 miles, and with the exception of the quick dash through downtown, it runs through some of the most ugly urban landscape I've ever seen. (Surely San Antonio is prettier than what they showcased.) The road surfaces were uneven and terrible. Once the marathoners peel off from the throngs of half-marathoners at 11 miles, we get to run the next 10 miles through desolate areas with no spectators and little support. Oh, and there's the 180-degree turn around at an orange cone at 18 miles up a side road (90 degree turns and a 180 degree turn in a quarter mile). What's up with that? Somebody couldn't measure a course and had to stick an extra quarter-mile on with no thought for the runners whatsoever. The last couple of miles go through town again, where we meet back up with the half-marathoners and get to run a 200-meter UPHILL to the finish at 26 miles. Oh, one another plus: the organizers did do a good job keeping the halfers and marathoners separate the last 2 miles, which could have been ugly.

The baggage pickup was a disaster with an hour wait at the UPS trucks. No announcer at the finish announcing finishers' names and a cheap, short-sleeve, cotton t-shirt to boot. Come on. With 33,000 entrants, at 100 bucks a pop? Somebody profited big time. They did the runners no favor. Transportation to the start? My wife saw people crying, still waiting for buses to the start, as she was walking to see me come by the two mile mark! (As a veteran I know to allow two hours to be bussed to the start, but a first-timer doesn't necessarily know any better, and many people were heartbroken having missed the start.)

Bottom line: Worst marathon overall I've ever seen or done. The City of San Antonio and Elite Racing can do much better than that. RNR Phoenix and Philly DR are much better examples of what they're capable of doing. Unless you're a local, this is not a good destination marathon. Go to Philly the following week instead. Depending on your pace, you'll run 10-30 minutes faster.

Ps. As a former elite marathoner and consistent age group winner, I'm no hack and I've seen and run many excellent marathons where the runners come first. Sorry, but they got this one all wrong. Waste of a fall marathon.

Fantastic weather and flat course with neighborhoods of character. Runners and spectators were having a blast, including me and my sister, who was running her first half-marathon. Not enough bands on the half course. We and at least 1,000 other runners were downtown waiting for a shuttle bus at 7:40 a.m. - and this was just one of the downtown shuttle stops. The shuttle worker told us that they were postponing the start from 7:30 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. due to the mass of runners that were still downtown waiting on shuttle buses. Our hotels did nothing special to accommodate runners (like offering coffee/juice/PowerBars earlier than usual). Cytomax is way too sweet. I prefer an expo that is all inclusive, not divided into sections where you pay for official products, and then leave that area to enter yet another line for general products.

This race had really poor arrangements for people trying to get to the start or leave the finish line area. If you had purchased premium parking ($60, and I did buy it) you were OK at the finish. Many people were late to the start and the lines at the finish for the shuttle were very long. It would also be nice if they had a spectator guide on how to get around to various spots on the course. The finisher t-shirt was really bad. They can certainly do better with that.

San Antonio is not a large enough area to accommodate 30K runners. The finish was a zoo! Too many spectators and family in too small an area. We waited over 45 minutes to get our drop bag. Rock N Roll should cap their entries at 20K for this event.

The race itself was great. I thought the course was wonderful. The shuttle system was abysmal. The shuttles were supposed to run until 7:00. Our group showed up at 6:30 and not a shuttle was seen until 7:20. And, not one porta-potty at the start line had paper by 7:30. Other than these two fairly big issues, the event was OK.

The race itself was very nice. Nice course and good spectators. I did expect to hear bands for longer than I was able. I've run much smaller events that have nearly as many bands on the course. The expo was jam-packed with very little room to walk the aisles. The big disappointment was the shuttles. We got in line near our hotel at 6:20 a.m. and watched two shuttles leave. The next shuttles didn't even show up until nearly 7:15. There were still hundreds of people waiting. We didn't arrive at the start line until 7:50. This is inexcusable at an event that charges $100 and has run numerous events in other cities.

Had a great time. This was the second half marathon for me in my wife in SA. Much better than last year. The bands were great. The spectators were second to none. Great finish, other than that 90-degree incline at the end. Plenty of refreshments along the way. Shuttle parking was okay for us. We got to the AT&T Center at 5:30 a.m. to beat all of the traffic. We were able to get to the starting area by 6:00 a.m. I had a hunch that we needed to get there early due to the number of participants. No complaints on the checked baggage. Walked right up and got our personal belongings. The shuttle that took us back dropped us off about 50 yards from our van. It was obvious to us they put a lot of work into this event. We did hear of some problems with shuttle service and checked baggage. As far as we are concerned, we give it two thumbs up!!

Pros: Expo was well organized, but on the smaller side, considering the field. The Elite Racing staff were helpful and very friendly. Lots of food at the finish line, plus a free beer. They had chips, pretzels, bars, bananas, apples and drinks. Crowd was supportive along the route. Bands were uplifting and enthusiastic. Volunteers were plentiful at all of the water stops. The river walk was wonderful for dining during the week. Perfect weather in spite of the recent days in the 80's. It was 34 at the start and maybe 60 and sunny at 11 a.m.

Cons: Shuttle issues. I got lucky and caught a free shuttle from Market Square that went directly to the start, but then I had to walk half a mile. The multi-wave start is terrible. They held each corral for a minute or two. I was in corral 5, so I only started 5 minutes after the gun, but corral 24 started 50 minutes after the gun, so I heard. The promised 70 bands were more like 20-25 max. The course was .25 long miles. How do I know? My Garmin beeped at exactly the same time as everyone else's at mile 1, .25 before the mile mark; and the same happened throughout the course. I finished showing 25.6. Not to complain, but the course was boring. We ran the first 7 or 8 through an industrial part of town and 8 miles of the second half were along the mission trail, with no spectators and not much scenery. There were a couple of nice sections around the river walk area and through some neighborhoods with tree-lined streets in one of the historic districts, too, so not all bad.

Overall: I had a great vacation and a fun day. Although I noted a lot of negatives, you have to expect some problems with 25,000 people in an event, especially the first time around.