Here is my summary of the event:

Pros:
1. Perfect weather!
2. Well organized start and finish
3. Beautiful run along Lake Washington (this is the best part)
4. Plenty of volunteers (the Cytomax was pretty good too)
5. Enough port-a-johns
6. Great medals
7. Well marked mile markers
8. Plenty of cool apparel to purchase

Cons:
1. The expo was a zoo and I didn't like it that I could not exchange the shirt for a smaller size (they run VERY large) until the finish (where there were none in my size left).
2. Merging with the slow half-marathoners after the marathon out and back on the floating bridge from 9-12 was horrible - that tunnel was HOT, runners were slow, and it was very tight. That was the worst part of the course.
3. Running on highway surfaces with no shade worked out OK this year - but that could be a future disaster. Part of the road had a slanted camber and of course don't expect spectators on the highway. Running through the downtown would be more interesting.
3. Can they eliminate that hill at mile 25? Overall, this is a hilly course so be prepared!

I really did not notice the bands - although there were a lot noted, you run past them so fast that it fails to register.

This is a good race if you are staying in town - it's the perfect time of year to visit Seattle!

This was my second marathon. My first was Mardis Gras 2009. We stayed at the the Homewood Suites in Tukwila, which was awesome. They have free beer and wine from 5-7 each night except Sunday. They also have a very nice running trail next door in case you have that last 2 or 3 miles to train. We could actually just step outside our door and be 10 feet from the trail.

The course was pretty good to a flat-land person. I had no hill training - and I mean NO hill training - but I did OK, and so did my wife. The 25th-mile hill did disappoint many people, though. The weather was great and you couldn't ask for better spectators.

Here is one of my only gripes. There was ice in the drink cups! I almost choked twice! Otherwise, the aid stations were great and cheered along with the spectators. My other, biggest gripe was the billing for the final concert. Keb Mo? Who is that? Yes, he's won Grammys, but who cares? This is a rock and roll marathon, not a blues guitar marathon.

With all that said, I would recommend this race to anyone and everyone. If it weren't so far from New Orleans, I would do it every year.

I was very impressed with organization and the course. The bands and fans were great.

The only problem was that my timing tag didn't work and I have no official time. Oh well. My Timex time was 4:57 and I got the medal.

I ran the full marathon and thought this was a very impressive debut. The weather was perfect and the course highlighted a lot of what is great about living and running in Seattle. I would definitely run the full or the half again. A couple observations, neither good nor bad, but hopefully helpful to you out-of-towners. Again, I really liked this marathon and would do it again.

(1) The last 20 miles of the full marathon will be run on highways, so there is a lot of concrete pavement. Hills are gradual, but they can be very long as on a highway, so just be prepared for the half-mile to mile of continuous hill you will face, especially from miles 17-19 and after the turnaround on the Aurora Bridge. But the downhill back to the Seattle Center was great. (2) I was worried about the Cytomax, since I couldn't find it anywhere where I live and couldn't train with it. I actually liked it; it tasted like Diet Gatorade to me. But that's just me. (3) There were a lot of people but I don't necessarily consider it good crowd support. They would politely stand and stare at you while you were huffing by. Let's hear some noise, Seattle! (4) The traffic to the start was very bad. The start location is not a very populated area, so there are not a huge amount of side roads or other ways to get to the start. Even some of the buses were just pulling up at start time. Just be warned that 25K people fill a lot of cars, and you will want to build extra time for traffic.

This was my second marathon, and first RNR race. For a first-year race, I thought they did a fantastic job of organizing a race with so many people. The course was absolutely beautiful and quite challenging, and the on-course bands were good. There were lots of people out on the course (especially the first half).

My only real complaint is that the full and half start together, then the full splits off for a few miles before rejoining the half runners. The effect is that full runners go from running with half runners at their own speed, to running with half runners much slower, which turns the race into a giant game of dodging slower runners. Not pleasant.

This was the first for Seattle - a great race, with great scenery and very good organization. The marathon was well set-up, but the real band focus and spectator energy were definitely for the half-marathon. That being said, marathoners are there to run, and it is a great race for a good pace and a lot of support on the course. Well done; see you next year.

The perfect weather and an excellent course made for a tremendous inaugural Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon. I think this one is #48 for me... and, I'd have to say it is my favorite to date.

Here's a perspective on downsides/upsides:
Downsides (note that these are quite minor in the overall scope, but I think worth mentioning as feedback for organizers):

* Packet pickup and finish location are quite a long walk from hotels. If it had been (more normal) rainy weather, it would have been a nightmare to get there.

* Despite getting to the bus stop a few minutes after 5:00, we waited 45 minutes for the bus to the start. (The waits for the bus ride were so long that she had to beg our bus driver to stop on the off-ramp. Traffic backed up, so she could answer nature's call in the bushes. Having over an hour of waiting/riding in the morning, with no chance for anyone to hit a bathroom probably isn't sustainable.

* The wave start meant that you might wait 30-45 minutes after the start gun. (On the plus side of this, if everyone had started at the same moment, it would have made for a giant traffic jam.)

* About 2/3 of the way through the marathon, we merged with the half-marathon "walkers" - groups of walkers walking/talking side-by-side, blocking the road. It was a hassle to have to run around them, and slow down until you could squeeze around them.

Upsides:
* While organizers can't take credit for great weather, it was a real treat.
- Excellent course - possibly the best overall way to see Seattle. Nice run along Lake Washington and over/back on the floating bridge. But, the real treat was running on the Alaska Way Viaduct (imagine a road elevated about 100-200' above street level). This viaduct bisects the downtown skyline and the Puget Sound, so you either had to look across at the gorgeous city skyline or over at the harbor, islands, ships, snow-capped Olympic mountains, and blue water. Fortunately, this piece was an out-and-back, which gave you lots of time to soak up all of the views.

- Music was fun.

- Interesting, high-quality finishing medal, and a high-quality tech t-shirt.

- Well-stocked, well-run aid stations.

The course was very scenic. The spectators and atmosphere were great. The race organization was fine (except for two different volunteers who yanked water cups away from me at the last second and thought it was funny). The hills were tough, but certainly manageable.

My only significant complaint is that most of the course (particularly after mile 9) was on concrete, not asphalt. There's a big difference between the two surfaces. Concrete is 10 times harder than asphalt and destroys your legs.

I've been running five and a half years, completed roughly twenty races of half-marathon length or longer, and never missed any time with injuries. (And I'm no string bean, either. I weigh in at around 180.) I think the single biggest factor in my staying healthy has been my refusal to train or race on sidewalks or concrete streets.

I don't know Seattle very well, so I have no idea whether there are any other realistic options. But it would be nice if Elite would consider routing more of the course onto asphalt streets.

I was registered for the full but had to run the half. I have lost track of the number of Elite events I have run, but I believe that for Seattle, they learned from the disaster that was San Antonio. The event was flawless. I tell people who have never run an Elite event that they do everything for you but run the race. I loved the course and running through the tunnel, and the park by the lake. Seeing the eagle was breathtaking. I do hope that the lady carrying her purse learned that she can trust the UPS bag check. I check an item every time that cannot be replaced. They haven't lost it yet. Thanks, UPS.

Thanks, Elite, for yet another perfect event. I am registered for and will be ready for the full next year. I can't wait to run across that floating bridge.

The race was well-organized, but I got really tired of all of the out-and-backs. Even though the race began in waves (corrals) of estimated pace groups, it was way too crowded! It was like the first 100 yards of any 5K, except it lasted for most of the first 14 miles. At mile 9 or so, the marathoners split off and did a two-mile out-and-back on I-90 and then joined back up with the half-marathoners. Unfortunately this meant that the marathoners ended up running/tripping over the slower half-marathoners that had caught up to the faster marathoners during the marathon's out-and-back. So the marathoners spent miles 11 through 14, slowing scooting around walkers and much slower runners on a road that was only about 10 feet wide. It was very annoying but once the half-marathoners finished the rest of the course was wide open.

The start needed some help. Traffic backed up for miles on I-5 until the exit and then a 35-minute wait for the toilets.

There were tons of water stops, although the Cytomax was way too strong for the first 5 stops. The course wasn't too hilly, but it was hard to appreciate any of the music since you passed by it so quickly!

A couple of course changes to remedy the over-crowding would make this course a 5-star race.