Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon

This is my 1st RnR race in several years. The race was very well organized, started on time, plenty of port-a-pots, well marked course, two Gu shot areas and all music areas were live, no DJ's. The marathon and half marathon were in two different start locations. Timing and award distribution were prompt. The expo was a good size and had plenty of vendors giving out samples. The shirt and medal were nice. With plenty of motels in downtown Phoenix, getting to the expo and start line were all walkable. The light rail was also located close by the expo, start and finish, no need to drive. There are two areas that need improvement. One is the start time, 7:50am. It just gets too warm and an early start would help get most of the race in before the heat kicks up. The second issue is the course. Very little of it is in downtown Phoenix. It would have been nice to run through the city and capital area. At the end of the race, there was plenty of food. In fact, when I went to get my slice of pizza, they gave me the entire pie! Also got a free massage. Finally, my freind placed in her age grade and received a very nice award!

Have run all 15 AZ RnRs-the race shrunk again this year-only 1800 (used to be over 10,000). Emphasis clearly has shifted to the half. On-time start, easy bag drop, corral mgt, mile banners, clocks, friendly volunteers. Still mostly flat with a rise at 23. Course is urban with some nice spots in Scottsdale then it's back to industrial after mile 21. Finish food was fine but missed the signs for the 'marathon zone'. Expo smaller than ever but packet pick-up was easy. Could have used a sponge stop in later miles-well into the 70s. No doubt, out-of-towners loved the full, dry sun. Medal also much smaller this time. Can tell RnR is cookie-cutter their races-it all looks formulatic. The basics are there, the course accurately measured but there's no local flavor. With dropping numbers, it wouldn't surprise me to see this race eventually go away.

This was one of the better Rock 'n' Roll marathons that I had done so far. The field was small enough (less than 2,000 marathoners) for an efficient start line experience (I actually overslept, and woke up at 7am, one mile away from the start, but could drop off my gear bag, use a porta potty, and squeeze into my corral seconds before the start at 7:50am). Entertainment, spectators and especially the volunteers were great, though the out and back between miles 13 and 20 was a bit boring (except for Scottsdale, of course). Stretches of the course where runners and cars were only separated by traffic cones and a tape felt a little bit unsafe, as some drivers did not adequately slow down. Other than that, the course was wide and well secured. I loved the new marathon finisher zone, and enjoyed two slices of pizza and a free ten-minute massage after the headliner concert! Suggestions: 1. For out-of-towners, the course is not the most exciting, so I would have loved if the marathon course had also gone through that desert park near the finish. It looked gorgeous from the overpass. 2. Electrolyte at every aid station would be perfect. Bananas were a nice addition. 3. Signs to the light rail line back to downtown Phoenix would be nice. I was quite lost! 4. Personally (if I hadn't overslept!) I would have preferred an earlier start, maybe 7am? It got quite warm after the half marathon mark. Overall, a nice local race, but not really a destination race (except if you spend more time in the rest of Arizona, of course).