Very poorly organized, no Gatorade at most of the water stops, course poorly marked. Ran out of medals! Wouldn't recommend it!

From: the registration to the last minute course changes, to miss-directing the runners (resulting in over an extra mile for many), to inadequate water stops, and under planning for shirts and awards, not much to be said for the organization after 7 years of doing this event! Is this a city run event? If so, they need to hire a qualifed event planning company. This could be a great event.

This was my fourth year running this race. It was very unorganized, volunteers sent many of us full marathon runner down the half marathon direction adding abour an extra mile and half to my distance. Last water stations had no water. At finish line no food was left for the rest of the marathon runner. Did the half marathon runners only enjoy the meals? I finished first in my age group at 4hrs and only had plenty of beer that I notice the volunteers were enjoying more then me. Very disappointed and previous years enjoyed a a prize for finishing first second or third in my age group but not this year. Not sure if I will be running next year.

I believe Marathoners and 1/2 Marathoners runners should all get a t-shirt. We paid a good price we should get t-shirts, like most marathons. T-shirts were not provided to those who did not pre-register. Also there were not enough volunteers. There was confusion at some intersections. and lastly there was not sufficient water. I believe my friend said that when she reached station #2 the water was gone.

Almost got run over, 2nd time and course is still confusing. Expo was better, shirts were good, prizes for top 3 finishers need to be better advertised with more detail. Water stations except that I caught many napping. It is a good thing I carried my own jug. The volunteers need marathon experience of their own. They don't have a clue. Veronica needs help.

Fiesta Marathon
McAllen, TX
Sunday, December 11, 2011
6:45 AM

Packet pick on Saturday was efficient. Each runner received a short-sleeved technical shirt and a tote bag. The start and finish lines were at the convention center, where parking was plentiful. Race day temperature was in low 50s. There was some headwind. It was cloudy; fortunately, there was no rain (it had rained all day/night on Saturday). We ran the first 9.3 miles with half marathoners. There were water/sports drink stations at about every other mile. We had to cross a large number of streets and traffic control was good. In some of the residential neighborhoods, we were on our own and had to be observant of the local traffic. Without the course monitors, who did a very fine job, I would have gotten lost as we had to make many turns. Each finisher received a short-sleeved technical shirt, a medallion, and a sombrero. There were plenty of recovery food items and drinks, which included hot pasta, deli lunch boxes, beer, and bottled water. The course was flat, and it felt like a running tour of the city, which I found quite interesting. Miles 9.5 to 14, 16 to 18.5, and 19.7 to 21.5 were out and back. This was a small marathon. There were 89 finishers (56 male, 33 female) in the average time of 4:32:23. The winning times were 2:40:18 (male) and 3:22:50 (female). There were several hundred half marathon and 5K runners, as well as several relay marathon teams. I enjoyed running the 6th edition of the Fiesta Marathon.

The race has a 7 hr limit. My husband and i are slow, penguin runners. But we finished before 6:30. At about 12 or 13 miles they started to pick up the cones from the street and one official told us to run on the running trail instead. We stayed on the street where the street still had cones. But because they picked up the cones the city of McAllen provided 2 escorts during the course through the city-one in front and one behind. Some officials occasionally asked us if we wanted to stop and they would give us a ride back-which was not encouraging.

When we crossed the finish line there was no announcer. I have a friend who ran the 1/2 marathon. But when she crossed the finish line even she did not have an announcer to encourage her as she finished the 1/2 They had very nice port of potties in trailers. But they turned off the water to trailers. so my husband had to use water from a bottle to take off the soap on his hands. When i was in the trailer the water worked initially while i washing my hands and then stopped. I think we should have access to the same amenities as the other runners, in this case a trailer with running water.

There was a runner behind us who did not have escort. A private vehicle had to escort her through the traffic. But because the trail was not marked at all on the way to finish she didn't make it back. Or maybe she quit. We had talked to her earlier in the race and it was her very first marathon experience. We felt it was such a shame that the race organizers did not provide a quality supportive racing experience to this young woman on her first marathon. They took down the finish line with timer before the 7 hours was up. We finished the San Antonio RNR at around the same pace.. but we felt encouraged and supported at that race. The fiesta marathon did not provide a quality racing course for all of its runners. We paid them too..just like the faster runners. We passed a walker near the end. But our friend who waited for us saw him finish before us.

Who knows? Maybe someone gave him a ride. But i think he got lost and didn't know the correct course and he just took the straightest path to the convention center. He didn't have a police escort. My friend said that he didn't know which way to go to the finish line around the fountain. He came to the finish line from the wrong direction. The escorts we had were nice. One man was encouraging. He worked for the City of Mcallen. But in a marathon we shouldn't need escorts when we are running a race under the time allotted for the race. So penguin runners or new runners avoid the Fitness Fiesta Marathon. Go somewhere that is organized well and will maintain a course for all the runners who run within the the time specified. We still had a good experience because we had nice friends that encouraged us. 3 different friends ran with us for different lengths of time. Plus, my husband and i had each other to encourage one another. We will not run the Fiesta Marathon again.

They promised prizes for top three finishers in each age group  I finished second in mine  a PR, but no prize. I brought this up with the organizer, who asked me 'which race did you run', and I never heard from her again. Also, I did the half marathon at a very fast pace, yet, the water stops were already out of water by the time I arrived. How can you run out of water with less than 1/4 of the runners through? very disappointing race

Course was flat and fast and weather was nice and cool. Volunteers were generally good but near the end it was not clear where to turn to get to finish line and volunteers were distracted talking to each other. It is a small marathon so I did not expect the expo to be great; overall, it was a great marathon and I would do it again. Flying in and out of the city was painless and parking was abundant and free. Didn't stick around for after the race-party but I heard it was a blast.

The course was the best aspect of this race. It was diverse and interesting. The water stations were many and well-staffed. The expo was not worth visiting, with not a single vender there. Course entertainment and spectator support were virtually non-existent. Towards the end of the race, major, busy, city intersections had little or NO police or volunteer supervision. Finishers were supposed to receive a tech shirt, which I never saw. The marathon director has not responded to repeated e-mails in the week since the run. The event coordinators should concentrate on organizing a well run half marathon or less, and not try to imitate the big cities with a poorly-run full marathon.