Seattle is an absolutely beautiful city. This course is not to be taken lightly. The course provides some challenging hills, so be sure to do some hill training. This was my 16th marathon to date, but for this one I followed the Hal Higdon marathon training program and took 17 minutes off of my former PR....and qualified for Boston by over 5 minutes! The first half of the course is much more scenic, but overall was a fantastic experience. The weather was perfect, organization was fantastic, volunteers were enthusiastic....overall a very enjoyable experience! A very good choice for a summer marathon.

First off let me say the people in Seattle were wonderful, everyone associated with the marathon did a wonderful job, but the race had one major flaw. 26,000 runners, 3500 of which were marathoners. A combined start with the halfers, required the corral start and therefore some runners didn't start the race for 45-60 minutes. The half marathon is very popular, fine run a half marathon only or let the marathoners start early. For a marathoner, the start and the first nine miles were a nightmare. By the way, the best spectators rivaling New York and Chicago.

great destination marathon, seattle is fabulous area, the expo was excellent, marathon was exceptionally well organized, the course was very disappointing, crowd disappointing as well. For such a hip city the people of the area seemed to care nothing about the marathon, very little advertisement. would i go back? yes, to experience more of the area and probably run the marathon again, hoping for changes in the course.

Usually I dont describe marathons as 'Fun' but Seattle was actually a great time. This was a destination marathon for me so i loved the entire, beautiful course. Running around lake washington and finishing by Qwest field was amazing!!!

There were a few long gradual climbs in the later miles of the marathon, but overall nothing too terrible. The organization, post race music concert, water stops, crowd support, cheerleaders were all excellent.

My only complaint was at a later mile in the race at the water stop where there was ICE in the cytomax cup that I almost choked on.

Other than that amazing race, expo, challenging course was a fun time. Ill probably be back next year!

This race has so much potential. Seattle is a beautiful city. The first half was pretty good, which means the half marathon was probably ok. However, the second half of the marathon consisted of three out-and-backs that mostly seemed to highlight Seattle's traffic and tunnels (three of them - all of significant lengths). Good urban marathon courses generally highlight the city's best features. Aside from the stadiums (a loop around either or both field/warning track, like many other races, would have been a huge improvement), this course did not seem to highlight much of anything. The worst part of the race, by far, was the four-mile out-and-back at the end - after passing the finish line. Passing the finish line is bad enough, but that portion of the course was far and away the ugliest part of it. Overall, there were other problems, like outrageous parking fees at the expo, but the course is the first place that organizers need to look for improvements. This race has so much potential, but instead it turned out to be the worst of the 16 marathons I have run.

I was looking for a June marathon and decided on Rock 'n' Roll Seattle. It turned out to be a great choice. The 26,000 participants had ideal running weather with perfect start time temperatures in the low-50s. One cool thing about Seattle is that sunrise comes early. It was complete daylight at 5:00 in the morning when I boarded the bus to the start. There was no problem catching an early shuttle to the start, and the start area was one of the better staging areas I've seen. As to be expected from the Competitor Group, race day organization was smooth.
Seattle is a beautiful city, and the course was very scenic. Running along the lake was breathtaking. What makes Rock 'n' Roll Seattle special, though, is that it is a race with heart. I was moved to tears by the tribute for our fallen soldiers. I've never seen anything like this. It was the emotional highlight of my race.
This race had great atmosphere and excellent runner support. There were plenty of bands and cheer squads. Water stations were well staffed by enthusiastic volunteers. The crowds were the heaviest in the downtown area. After leaving downtown, you are running on a highway with hardly any spectators. There is not much shade on this portion of the course, so I was grateful for the cloudy day. There are three out-and-backs that I remember. I loved the first one on the floating bridge. The second one was Aurora Avenue, which is a long uphill grade. By this time, the concrete roads took its toll on my legs, and I started to cramp. A medical volunteer on a bicycle immediately rode up beside me and offered me a salt pack. The last out and back was demoralizing because it's so close to the end and has a hill. Local runners are saying there will be course changes next year. Hopefully, the modified course won't be as tough.
Seattle was a good overall race experience. I would recommend this race.

This was the second Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon, and I thought it ran a little smoother than the first year. After the full and half marathoners split, there was no crossing of the two segments again, which made the run less congested.

The 2010 weather was more seasonal (lower temperature, more clouds, no view of the Olympic Mountains or Mt. Rainer), but better running conditions than 2009. Still plenty to see and enjoy, and the bands once again were fantastic. Tough pull in the second half, so make sure you do hill training in preparation for the race.

One last note: A majority of the second half of the race occurs on the (closed to vehicular traffic) Alaskan Way viaduct, which offers superb views of downtown, Elliott Bay and the ferry/cruise ship terminals, and the Olympics (weather permitting). It's the toughest, but one of the best parts of the course. Plans are in the works, however, to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct with a tunnel, which will result in the demolition of the viaduct. Things in Seattle move slowly, but one should plan on running this marathon within the next few years to take advantage of the unique setting the viaduct offers.

If you're going to run Rock 'n' Roll Seattle, be prepared to run on concrete, run out-and-backs and run in a crowd. Running a marathon was not meant to be easy, but the race organizers did their best to support the marathoners with outstanding course support. The bands and cheer squads did their best to make it fun.

I've run my share of marathons (24 to date), but man, I've never run on as much concrete as I did for this marathon.... It was brutal. I thought the organization was good, but this course needs major improvement. Two-thirds of this marathon is run on highways and overpasses (concrete, mind you). Apart from that, the volunteers were terrific and spectators too. Nice medal and technical tee.

I wouldn't recommend it....

This was my first Rock and Roll Marathon and my 16th overall. The organization was great - including registration, correspondence with people via email before the race, web information, expo, race day events, and post race. I like point-to-point courses and think they handled the transportation well. I caught a bus at 5 and was at the start of the race by 5:30. I appreciated the water, fruit and bagel. Bag-drop was great. They were very clear that the bag-drop vehicles were leaving at 7 and it sounds like some people missed the bag-drop. Lines to the portables were short - less than 10 minutes. I like the starting corrals, but wouldn't if I were in the back part of the race. I wonder if there is a way to have a dual start - two parallel roads that merge after two or three miles, or something that allows the walkers/slower runners to get start sooner. Or different starting spots for marathon/half marathon. I found the bands, fans, and water stations to be great. The out-and-back nature along the viaduct over the Aurora Bridge was a little sparse in fans - and I am not sure it was the most scenic. I, like others, was totally heartbroken when I realized that there was a hill coming at mile 25.

I found post-race stuff to be fine - but I am not a high-maintenance person. I met family and then headed back to the hot tub at the hotel. (Met great people from Montana and Bellingham, WA at the hot tub!) I did set a PR on the Seattle course by 6 minutes. I liked meeting Scott Jurek - WOW - at the expo. I plan on returning next year. I don't really like the green race shirt, but I really like the two shirts I bought when I registered - gray technical and black long-sleeve.