I ran the half-marathon; my mom ran the full. We both enjoyed the races VERY much. The half-marathoners and full-marathoners were only together at the beginning. Pretty course. Broken roads made it a little tricky, but nothing a real trooper can't get through! :) I heard the full-marathoners got martinis around mile 17!

Great after party. I stayed for a few hours waiting on my mom in the full marathon to finish. The huge grassy field was a plus, they load you up with snacks at the end (note: could have used a bag to put the goodies in!), and who doesn't love free beer after a race!?

Looking forward to running the full next time.

(NOTE: I have run the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon do not let THAT marathon shy you away from this one.)

The flattest course that I have run. The roads may not be the best, but there are not many runners on them either. A smaller marathon - after the half marathon splits off at about mile 4, you never run with them again. I know there are many comments about the rough surface, but it's not that bad. Weather was great, organization was good, and New Orleans is a beautiful city. Don't party too hard the night before and you will be OK! I am definitely going back to NOLA.

I really enjoyed this marathon! It changed my entire impression of New Orleans.

This was Marathon #15 for me and definitely one of my favorites. I stayed in a hotel on St. Charles, so there was about a mile-long walk to the start line - a nice warm-up. Temps were perfect. I enjoyed the tour of the city and thought it went through a nice variety of areas, from the Garden District to the French Quarter to CIty Park. Expo was okay; shirt was okay. Spectators were better than I expected. The course felt flat as a board. I had no problems with the road surface, although I see plenty of other runners did. Aid stations were well-stocked; medals were awesome; bands were fantastic. I love Rock 'n' Roll Marathons. I know not everyone does. But this was definitely in my top 5 favorite races. Maybe my top 3.

I enjoyed the race from the time I crossed the start line until I crossed the finish line. The organization before and after the race was poor. There were no shuttle buses from hotels near the French Quarter to the start, and that left me with a 2-mile walk before the marathon. The wait between the corrals was way too long. Corral 15 did not start for 30 minutes after the gun and there were over 20 corrals. I entered the corral 20 minutes before the start, so I had to stand around 50 minutes after walking from the hotel. After the race others wrote about the long walk to the shuttle, but did not mention the equally long walk to the baggage pickup, which was in the opposite direction of the shuttles.

Great race; great city; perfect weather; back half got a little boring; long walk to the shuttles.

Let me start by saying that we LOVE NOLA and frequent the city often!! So, we were excited about the chance to race there.... BUT, I can't say that we will ever run this particular race in the future. Understandably, there is little that could be done about the condition of the roads; however, it must be said: they were terrible!!! I actually recall very little of the sights along the course because I was watching every stride and dodging holes and cracks!!

I agree with previous comments that the start and finish area should have been at the same location. If you had never been to the city before, it would have been VERY difficult to find your way to the start and especially back from the finish! There was no shuttle that we could find from the finish back to the downtown area!! We actually took the trolley (that required EXACT change, and who has that after running a marathon??!!) back to the hotel, as did several other racers.

I felt that the water stations were very crowded. Tables and volunteers were jammed into a very small area and there was no way of knowing if you were grabbing water or the CytoYUCK stuff!?

I was most disappointed with the finish... I had to search for my medal!! The finish area was very crowded, and once you left the area, there were no stations for water or food. I left the finish area with 1 bottle of water and 1 banana, and took the post-finish hike to the bag pick-up area (actually had to ask another runner where it was because there was NO signage!!). I got my bag and changed into dry clothes and headed out in search of more water... only to discover that I had missed my opportunity for water by leaving the finish area! So, for the most part, I found this event to be very expensive and poorly organized!!!

With all of that being said... I LOVE the City of New Orleans and the people are great!! I did enjoy the colorful spectators along the course! And while I'm sure we will return to this city many times in the future, I can't say that it will be to run this race....

Very well organized marathon that started the participants in waves (hello, LA - try it). Scenic course; lots of complaints from others about the road surface, but I wasn't affected by it very much.

Really great bands, but not as many as I would have expected for a Rock & Roll Marathon.

Shuttles were quite a hike from the finish line, so if someone had blisters, etc., it would have been pretty tough to get to them.

If you like spectators, this isn't the race for you; having run 6 other marathons, this one had the fewest spectators, despite beautiful weather.

And, the t-shirt was so ugly (dingy gray??? Seriously???) it's doubtful that any of the female marathoners will ever wear it.

I have read through the earlier comments and had a similar experience. Overall, I enjoyed the race despite battling with an Achilles problem, and we had a great time in New Orleans after the race. The good:

-Well organized start area
-Nice course (though roads were bad)
-Expo check in was easy and the 1.5-mile walk wasn't that bad from the Royal Sonesta
-Finish area worked well (at least for the half)
-Shuttle bus from the finish was easy
-Enjoyed the bands

The bad:
-The roads!
-Cytomax or whatever they had... yuck! I bet they had a lot left over at the finish
-The price... an expensive race
-Would like to see a start and finish in the downtown area, but the park was nice
-The expo beyond the Brooks area was very cramped

I will be back next year and have already added the race to my 2011 calendar.

This was my fifth race and second Rock 'n' Roll Marathon (I did Vegas in December). This was much better than Vegas, but I give no credit to Competitor or the Rock 'n' Roll people who seem to be in it only for the money only. All of the credit goes to the amazing city, fantastic fans - especially the local running clubs at the fluid stations (they should go back to running this race) - and the course (okay, one thing R'n'R did right - my PR). Yes, the course was bumpy from potholes in areas (the city is built on a swamp - expect it), but otherwise, it was a great, scenic route through the city. If you run a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, be prepared to be nickel and dimed - they're expensive, you don't get much for what you pay for, and from the surveys I've been getting from them, they want to charge for other things too (like day-of packet pick-up!). Still, I don't regret it; I just wish that I could have done the race when the local clubs organized it.

Ps. R'n'R, it's sort of ridiculous to try and insinuate that this is the first NOLA Marathon (instead of just the first R'n'R Nola Marathon) - especially in a city that LOVES its history.