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Apr 27, 2024

Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 3.4

Organization 4.2

Spectators 3.5

Number of comments: 104 [displaying comments 21 to 31]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 11 > ]

K. L. from seattle, WA (7/1/2013) "IT-band slapper" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I ran the inaugural RnR Seattle in 2009, and have run the Seattle marathon in November. For years I have called these races the 'Ankle Breakers' because of our awesome potholed streets and steep hills. After running this years RnR marathon I have changed the nickname to the IT-band slapper :) The reasoning was that although the course changed a bit, the stretch through the I-90 tunnels were so angled it actually felt like I was making a v-8 commercial(running at an extreme angle, LOL). Other than that, course was BEAUTIFUL! ..here's my pros vs. cons list: Pro: -Expo was fun, games-they had ski-ball! The automated fortune tellers were hilarious! -Race start had good music, plenty of porto potties in my opinion -Good energy at the start -The part through Rainier valley was not that bad, it's an area the city is trying to make nicer, but really, what mattered was the road was smooth and the locals(and the homeless) were out cheering. -Best view..Seward park! Prepare to pull out your camera for a quick pic of the water + Mt. Rainier. I live here and was taken aback by how beautiful it was. -All the little highschool cheer teams were full of energy and cheering -Ample water/Gatorade stations -Medics on bikes riding the course were ample and necessary -Medal was nice, as was the free Jamba juice at the end Cons: -Parking for expo could be difficult or very expensive for out of towners. -Long time to start...I started near the back to run with a friend doing the half...the race started at 7AM, we didn't cross the start until 8:15AM. -HILLS-this is a hilly race, Steep hills. Up and Down. Do HILL work while training or it will bite you in the legs...come prepared. -After mile 15 there is a narrow(narrows to 1 person width) path that is almost crawl worthy vertical up to the I-90 bridge. I got stuck behind people barely able to make it up. It is short though, so be patient getting up it. -Miles 18-23, all on the I-90 bridge (nice views though) -Miles 18-23: Bring music if you need it, there wasn't much for this portion of the race -Miles 18-23: The tunnel portion had steep curving angles that I mentioned above that really did a number on my IT bands. It was also warm and sunny, so being on the open freeway bridge while running made it even hotter. Be prepared to grab extra water cups and dump water on your head to get through the hot freeway section, it will keep you going as it is open and roasty almost all the way to the end...unless it rains, then you're golden:) -This is not a race to just jump into without training. By mile 21 people started dropping like flies. There was a medic golf cart that drove by me at least 4x's delivering hurt runners to the end and at least 4 people(young and old, male and female) sitting on the ground with medics next to them. I ran at a 4hr pace, so these were mostly middle pack average to fast runners who where dropping. -One complaint about the Medics..at mile 23 I asked one on a bike for biofreeze...nope, none to be had. WTF? The guy next to me offered his little sample, but since he was limping there was no way I was taking his last bit of biofreeze. -Steep(and I mean steep) hill straight down right before or around 25. I tried to bust down it, but my IT bands were burnt after the tunnels, so had to limp down, but it's short and then immediately goes up hill then evens out until almost the home stretch. -Why, yes, there is a steep hill at the last .4 miles of the race, it's always been there and always will be. Be ready for it. -Finish line was quite narrow for the marathoners. -It's a RnR, so yeah, it's expensive. All in all, a very challenging race, with gorgeous views of the city and mountains. I'll probably run this race again since I live in Seattle.
D. O. from New Jersey (6/25/2013) "A Hero at Heavy Medal Station," (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I love Rock n Roll marathon series, already ran 5 of them in 2013. At my turn to claim Rock Star heavy medal from the Station, a runner collapsed from behind me. Peoples looked for the Medics at this emergency situation. Then a young runner check the patient's heart and tried CPR. Just a right person on the right time before medics arrive. He saved a life!! Real Hero!!
H. M. from Bellevue, WA (6/24/2013) "Not a great course" (about: 2013) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 While there were some scenic stretches along Lake Washington and some nice downtown waterfront views, there were also a lot of sections of this course that were awful. The seedy section of town along Rainier Avenue - really? Then the 2 tunnels and I-90 express lane section. Fumes in the tunnel, felt claustrophobic, and in the case of the Battery Street Tunnel it is just kind of creepy. As others have commented, the hill up to the finish was horrible - really - right at 13 miles we need that steep of an uphill? There was also a super steep downhill section that was very tough on the joints. Finally, the course was long according to my Garmin and other runners who I've talked with. It measured 13.4 miles for us. Come on, Rock-n-Roll - Seattle is a nice town. This has the potential to be a great race - work on the course for next time. You can do better than this! Additionally - logistics comments: 1. The way the porta potties were organized in a narrow pathway made it tough to squeeze through the crowd and actually get to the corrals. This needs rethinking to enable foot traffic to flow better. 2. Security - I ran in Boston this year so security was very top of mind for me. I was really surprised you didn't use clear gear bags. I saw more bomb sniffing dogs for which I was grateful. But lots of areas where I expected access to be more blocked than it seemed to be too. I'd feel safer with a few more visible precautions including the clear bags.
M. J. from Spokane, WA (6/24/2013) "Great weather. Great course. Great race." (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I will remember the 2013 RnR Seattle for the gorgeous weather. It was a sunny day that put Seattle's natural beauty on display. Course modifications eliminated a nasty hill from last year. A definite improvement. Run support was excellent. Thank you volunteers! The Seattle Center is a great venue for this event. Relaxing around the fountain was a great way to finish a race. This was the 5 year anniversary of RnR Seattle, and I have run this event every year. It was nice to be recognized as a legacy runner and given an extra shirt. I drive almost 300 miles to run this race. It's worth it.
Brian OC from Seattle, WA (6/23/2013) "Scenic, great crowds, tough second half" (about: 2013) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This was my first year running Rock'n'Roll Seattle. Well organized wave start kept the first mile from being too congested. Very scenic race, with the several miles along Lake Washington being a highlight; you see just about all the major Seattle sites along the route with great views of Mount Rainer and the Olympic mountains. Great crowds everywhere except when the route heads on the I-90 bridge. This route was fairly flat until around mile 15, and from that point on every 1-1.5 miles had a significant hill... not a good race to attempt a negative split. Apparently one dangerously steep hill from the 2012 route was eliminated so sounds like the 2013 course was improved over the prior year. Organizers kept half and full marathoners split when the courses merge for the last ~6 miles. That worked well for the marathoners who had ample room, but not so well for the half-marathoners who I noticed were often shoulder-to-shoulder with little passing room, since about 5x more folks were running the half than the full. Plenty of on-course hydration with 2 GU stops. Gatorade was provided every 3 miles or so (wished they had Nuun or just about anything else.) Post-race plenty of free energy drinks, smoothies, bars, bananas to re-energize. Not nearly enough restrooms pre/post-race, although presumably that's not a problem if you pay extra for the pre/post race VIP.
T. C. from Olympia, WA (6/14/2013) "Not Enough Bang for Your Buck" (about: 2012) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Perhaps I went into this race with expectations a tad too high. I blame the glitzy magazine ads promoting the local bands performing at every mile marker. Awesome, right? However, I was less than impressed with this race from the expo to the finish line. Pros: efficient wave starts that allowed plenty of room to avoid weaving in and out of the masses, a decent finisher's medal to add to a collection. Cons: Exorbitant entry fee didn't include parking ($15 to attend the mandatory expo as no one else is authorized to pick up your race packet & $20 to park in downtown Seattle on race day), generic dri-fit participant shirt, a pathetic 30 porta potties at the start for 17,000 participants, local cover bands at every other mile marker whose music more-so made me want to jump off a bridge than feel inspired to run 26.2 miles, a less than scenic course, and to add salt to the wound...an uphill finish line. To top it off, the unknown headliner band at the finish only had two people (non-race participants) cheering them on. Bottom line, I don't intend on participating in future Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series events any time soon.
M. B. from Virginia (9/16/2012) "First time I felt a course was actually dangerous" (about: 2012) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Pros: Expo - the flow and organization of the expo was excellent. Lots of vendors and space. Usually I like to get in, grab my number and shirt, and leave ASAP but I actually stuck around and had fun at this one. Spectators - lots of cheering, music, and fun along the way. It was amazing. Water stations - more than adequate. Never got to the point where I was dying for the next water stop, which is exactly how it should be. Cons: Course - I like a few hills in my races, but the ones in this race were flat out dangerous. After Rainier Ave, it's just a wall of hill and it's just as steep coming back down. Everyone had to tip toe down so as not to slip. Then when we had to run on I-90 I felt like I was choking on the exhaust fumes in the tunnel. There were also a few freeway overpasses we had to run on that did not have nearly enough railing to ease my acrophobia. Port-o-potties - they were organized so people had to wait for individual stalls. So if you're unlucky like me and got in a line where everyone was taking their time, you didn't get to use the bathroom at all (I waited 45 minutes and hardly moved). They should have had at least a couple volunteers organizing lines for groups of stalls. Or a couple really long lines for all the stalls. Bag Check - the bag check was no where near the start or finish line. After not being able to use the bathroom, I literally had to sprint to get to this place to make my corral. It was ridiculous. And then when the race was over, you had to walk up a hill to the opposite end of the Seattle Center to get your stuff (and considering this is after 13.1 or 26.2 miles, really not an easy thing to do).
R. C. from Seattle, WA (9/4/2012) "New course terrible!" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I have ran this 1/2 marathon every year & was so excited when they changed to an out & back course & did away with the shuttles to the start. Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed by the course selection however. Even though the original course had some dead areas I'll call them, I much preferred that to the new course. The beginning was nice & no issues there, but once you leave downtown you're on Rainier Ave for awhile, which isn't exactly the nicest part of town. That wasn't the worst of it though. There was a long treacherous hill (Dakota, I think) that was just downright dangerous. It wasn't the uphill that was the scary part, but the downhill. The hill was so steep that everyone around me was shuffling baby steps down the whole thing just to keep from taking a header. Fortunately, I was in the middle, so I was there before it started to rain, because if the pavement were wet lord knows how many people would have bit it. They need to find some other way to cut over to LWB, becausse this was just stupid. The other thing I disliked was the miles on LWB were shortened from years past. Everyone I've spoken with who has ran this said the same thing, that the LWB miles were the most scenic & enjoyable part. I won't complain about the I-90 tunnel as you really don't have many other options there, but coming back to the Center we went through yet another tunnel (Battery Tunnel), which was musty, dark & dreary. This was another poor choice in my opinion. Last item I'll bark about is the crappy finish. Uphill on Mercer Street, come on! At least give us a fast finish. I have ran the Seattle Marathon 7-8 times & am pretty tired of this same stretch of finish. I hope they re-think the finish & eliminate Battery Tunnel & Mercer to give us a more scenic & fast finish. I'm all for a challenging course, but these negatives took the enjoyment out of this race, and unless the course is altered I likely won't run this again. I think a start/finish Queste Field would be awesome & give this something a bit different than the Seattle Marathon in November.
D. B. from Washington (7/29/2012) "Fun first time course. Lots of hills" (about: 2010) First Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was my first marathon that I ran. There were many hills and a hill at mile marker 26. I cramped up at the end because I had water and cytomax at each fill station.
Craig Olson from Seattle, WA (7/4/2012) "Great logistics on new course...More challenging?" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I've run all four Seattle RNR Half Marathons and was excited to see how the new course would play out. I liked the logistics a lot compared to the point to point start and finish from the previous three races. Everything from good access to porta potties to the UPS gear check (yah!). IN addition, the coral system they use at the start is really cool. You basically go out every two minutes based on your predicted time submitted when you sign up. The Seattle Center/Space Needle is a great start and stop location as well. The course itself seemed harder to me although on paper I was not expecting it to be. I'm far from elite but had been in the 1:38 range on the prior three races and this time was 1:42. Still can't tell if it was NOT my day or others felt the new course was more challenging as well? (any feedback here from others would be appreciated). The hills on the 2nd part of the course were larger and longer than I anticipated. Lots of water and energy drink stations which helped that part. I was on pace for a 1:38 the first 6 miles but then it kind of fell apart but was still happy to be part of this race. Great fan support and it didn't rain (I'm a Seattle native so this is a good thing). I'm not a morning person so the 7am start was/is an early one for me. Also too early to take a bus downtown so driving was required. Cheers!

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