This was my second time race-walking the San Antonio Marathon. There was lots of great crowd support! The bands along the course were great. The bus situation seemed a bit chaotic, and I understand that several didn't get to the start on time. Great weather conditions. I really enjoy this race!

I ran the half. After reading how there would be no shuttles from downtown to the start I spent $30 on the silver package for the course tour and shuttle. I was worried how I was going to get from the hotel to the finish to catch the shuttle to the start. Turned out there were shuttles from downtown to the start. They were running way behind. We got there as the start gun was firing 10 minutes late. Thank goodness for the wave start. Volunteers were fantastic, as were the spectators. The uphill to the finish chute was unexpected and unpleasant. Course bus tour did not take us that far. I could not do the full, so I dropped to the half. I am already registered for next year's full. I know they'll work out the glitches, especially after reading these comments. The expo was well laid out.

I felt the people at Elite Racing bit off more than they could chew. I missed my corral start time by 1 hour due to being stuck in traffic on I35 and having to wait for a shuttle to the starting line. I checked my watch at the finish and ran 26.96 miles (the extra distance was probably from having to run around all of the slow runners). I waited more in lines (expo, shuttle to and from the start and finish) than on the course. I was very disappointed, especially after how much this race was promoted. I wish the San Antonio Road Runners would consider organizing the Marathon of the Americas next year; I really missed it.

The Rock N Roll Marathon was a huge improvement over San Antonio's previous marathons. There were plenty of wonderful volunteers cheering for us even on the most desolate parts of the course. I ran the full marathon and would offer two possible areas for improvement.

I would prefer that they avoid the unpopulated areas in the second half of the marathon.

I waited more than 1.5 hours in line to board a shuttle bus after the finish. I am sure they are aware of that problem and it will be corrected next year.

Overall, they did a good job and I will be back next year.

San Antonio deserves a great marathon. The city is beautiful. The citizens - from the crowds of spectators to the hotel janitor - were very encouraging.

This inaugural race was not it. The biggest organizational issue was shuttle buses and access to the start line village. We walked out for one of the "continually running" buses about 1:15 before the start. Buses took almost 55 minutes to appear!

Volunteers told us the start would be delayed because so many runners had been stuck in the bus lines. But the race started while tons of runners were still walking off the buses, through the traffic jam, through gear check and port-a-potties. By the time I made it to the corrals, I started 12,000 people behind, and with pace groups 4:00/mile behind where I should have been.

So I couldn't "race" the first ten miles and had to make this a "fun run." While the majority of people made it into the proper corrals, I noticed a good number of low bib numbers stuck back there with me, trying to dodge the hordes of slower runners.

Other aspects that need improving:
- Entrance to the expo. Around midday Saturday, there were long lines outside the Alamodome doors due to security checks. I understand the precaution, but open more doors and make a better first impression... instead of "Welcome!" it was "Open your bags!"
- Aisles within the vendor area of the expo were narrow and crowded, a claustrophobic warren.
- The map of shuttle bus stops contradicted the written instructions on where to go.
- More information up front/in the mail would be good, such as a schedule of speakers at the expo, maps of the start and finish area, and more guidance on transportation.
- The last .2 is a sharp uphill, then a 90-degree turn. Nothing against hills, but the layout really precludes a strong finish.

Positives:
- The course has some nice stretches through downtown, past the Alamo, and then up a street lined with huge trees and mansions by the river around the 15K mark. The second half is more desolate.
- Great crowd support downtown.
- The pasta dinner was lovely: set in a courtyard with musicians at sunset, several different buffet lines and seating areas... no wait and tasty food.
- Some very good bands on the course.

Thanks to the volunteers and residents who supported us, but Elite Racing needs to get its act together on this one.

I do not think that the City of San Antonio was prepared for the volume of runners that came out for this event.
The shuttle buses were a nightmare and caused a lot of runners to miss their start corral. The finish line area was so congested and uncomfortably crowded. The pasta party was very nice. Expo was too. Course had a lot of turns and a nasty uphill to the finish. Work out the kinks, and it could be a much smoother race day. ;-)

For San Antonio's first Rock and Roll, it was great! For those of us who have run the regular San Antonio Marathon, this was a huge step up!

I ran the 1/2 marathon for this race and so cannot comment on the full. The organization that went into this race was excellent considering the fact that they had 30,000 runners, and all of the volunteers were awesome. Drink stations were well placed, although it would have been nice for them to put signs up high so you could see them coming.

I'm not so sure they should call this a Rock and Roll marathon. I saw maybe 8 bands and all but one of them just had music playing through the speakers with an empty stage.

Spectators were minimal; many thanks to the few that did show up to cheer us on!

The course was OK and only had a few hills, though the one at the last 0.2 miles was not appreciated by most folks coming in. The route left a lot to be desired. At one point we were running through a junky neighborhood for a mile or so. The roads were also pretty narrow for a good portion of the run and so we were always running in a crowd.

If you live in San Antonio or close by, then this is an OK event to go to, but I would have been very upset if I would have flown in just for this race.

Oh, and having to pay $10 to park at the expo just to pick up the race packet was a joke! This was not a cheap race to enter and I feel that this is the one area where race organizers really dropped the ball.

Let me first state that I was not well-trained for RnRSA, which was my 10th marathon; and my pre-race organization was about the same as usual. Those biases put aside, this one really under-delivered on what was promised. The directions to the free shuttle were incorrect; the wait to get a shuttle to get back to your car was reported to be as long as 4 hours in some cases. The materials said there would be 50 bands along the course. There were maybe 15, perhaps 20 at the most. This was detrimental to my race plan, which was to go slow and listen to the tunes that I've heard so much about at these RnR races.

I had run San Antonio (only about a 90-minute drive for me) twice before and vowed to never return because of piss-poor organization. However, when I heard the RnR folks took it over, I thought all would be OK. Wrong again for the third time! I think it just boils down to the fact that San Antonio has always been and will continue to be a small town that just has a lot of people in it. The people were courteous - I will give them that - but I think, in general, the city infrastructure and personnel just can't support something this large. Maybe cap the race at 10,000 people.

This is my second marathon. The race itself was wonderful; the weather could not have been better. The course was well staffed, with an abundance of water and aid stations as well as porta-potties. Locally, I very much enjoyed the San Antonio Riverwalk - the flora and fauna, as well as the historic sites. I had a good time and finished 53 minutes and 58 seconds quicker than my last marathon (February '08 - Austin). Thank you for the run!

Challenges: when leaving the area, runners were required to walk down a long set of stairs - then up another set of stairs again to depart the area (Aggh!). Oops, I forgot! This course has a sadistic surprise in the last quarter-mile.

Safety hazards: The finisher's area situation was a catastrophe waiting to happen in regard to crowd control. People were coming in faster from the race and to rejoin their families than they were able to leave. Porta-potties and UPS trucks lined up in tight rows, forming blockades that blocked natural exit paths. This resulted in overcrowding. What available exit paths that did exist were bottle-necked with spectators, who were allowed in the finish area and on the exit stairs.