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Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.8 
Organization 4.0 
Spectators 3.9
Number of comments: 401 [displaying comments 261 to 271]
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C. W. from Indianapolis, IN
(1/31/2006)
"Elite Racing, you rock!" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 I just wanted to fill you in on some of my experiences at the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Arizona Half-Marathon two weeks ago in Phoenix. This mega-race attracted about 30,000 racers total for the marathon and half-marathon combined. We were instructed to park in various lots near the finish-line, where we would be shuttled the 30-minute ride to the starting line. Shuttles were running until 7:30 a.m. for a marathon start time of 7:40 and the half-marathon start time of 8:30. My friend and I arrived at the parking lot at 7:15 a.m., about 15 minutes later than we wanted to be (we got slightly lost on the way there) but still feeling confident that we had plenty of time to catch the shuttle and get comfortably into our corrals by 8:00. This would leave us with only 30 minutes of waiting around in the cold, which we were trying to minimize. We parked in one of the lots off Rio Salada Parkway, exited our car and saw a line of people waiting for the shuttle. We started to walk toward the end of the line... and we walked, and walked, and walked some more. I had never seen such a long line before EVER, and I've been to Disney World - during Spring Break! There were 2,000-3,000 people in that line - no exaggeration - and someone who had gone up on a nearby hill to relieve herself reported that she saw only one bus arriving every 5-10 minutes (we couldn't see anywhere near the front of the line from our vantage point). We all quickly figured out that this was not going to happen. Hopping in our cars and driving over to the start did not seem an option either because you couldn't move anywhere in your car due to road closures and traffic (and race instructions discouraged us from parking at the start as there would be no shuttles back to the start from the finish-line). We stood in line for an hour and a half, taking turns pulling up different spots of parking lot now and again for use as instant port-a-pots. Although there was no volunteer or race-affiliated official of any kind in sight to tell us anything, I quickly figured out that even if race administration knew of the problem, they would not do anything about it. Had there been a half-dozen or so elite runners in our midst (maybe even one), yes they probably would have delayed the start. But for 3,000 of us little people, not a chance! We finally boarded a shuttle bus at 8:40 a.m., ten minutes after the gun went off. At about 9:10 we were dropped near the start line. My friend and I separated immediately, as she went to check her gear. I quickly ducked into a port-a-pot (rows and rows of them eerily vacant) and then started to walk the few hundred meters up to the start line. By this time I was already feeling parched as I had drunk my one bottle of pre-race water some 40 minutes ago and made use of the parking lot 3 times! I searched desperately for some of the water which race instructions had promised would be waiting for us at the Start Village. But there was none to be found since - silly me - the Start Village only exists AT THE START. The entire start had already finished; there were just a few handfuls of people around (those of us coming off these last few buses), the race clock was off and the volunteers were already cleaning up the start area. The last vestige that remained in the start area to assure me that I really was in the right place was a man's voice booming over the loudspeaker with forced gaiety, "Come on, back-of-the-packers! Let's go. You guys are the best; everyone knows that the back of the pack has the MOST FUN!!" I looked around for the source of this annoying voice since, by default, he was obviously talking to me and I wanted to make sure that he knew that, really and truly, I'm a mid-pack RUNNER, not a back-of-the-packer. Couldn't he see that my outfit was 100% microfiber? But all I could see was the huge stereo speaker. I thought about throwing a rock at it but decided instead to just "focus on my own race" (as if there was anybody else's race in sight on which to focus?). I started my stopwatch, stepped on the starting mats (not even feeling sure that they were still activated) and began to run in a creepy vacuum, seemingly by myself. Within a couple blocks, I caught up to the very end of the race. For the first 3-5 miles, there I was awash in a sea of WALL-TO-WALL WALKERS! At around mile 5, I caught up with the back of the runners. At mile 7 I passed the 2:30 pace group, and at mile 9 I passed the 2:22 pace group (apparently running behind schedule as far as I could tell). For weeks before last year's Indianapolis Mini-Marathon (also a mega-race of 30,000 participants), I fretted and stressed about making my way through slower traffic due to the far back corral to which I was assigned. I spoke to everyone I knew and got as much advice as I could about how to maneuver through walkers and other slower traffic. Race day came in May and I found myself breezing through some light traffic for 1 short mile. Then things opened up and I ran free and clear from mile 2 on. Fast forward six months and imagine my delight when I received my confirmation card from P.F. Chang's and saw that I somehow had managed to get myself assigned to corral number 1 for this race. Traffic would clearly not be an issue for me this time, my second attempt at the half-marathon distance, no sir! This particular race in Arizona attracts a large number of fundraising groups from every corner of the country. And God bless their beautiful souls, every one of 'em, but these groups tend to attract a lot of walkers and first-time runners. They also like to walk/run the race in PACKS, two-, three- or more abreast!! I spent 13 long miles weaving in and out of these cotton-shirted, first name-wearing saints as I frantically looked for openings, yelling "passing on your left!," "on your right," and "coming through!" as I squeezed my not-so-narrow self through openings less than a foot wide. I was up on the sidewalks. I was outside of the cones separating us from oncoming traffic. It was exhausting! I tried to follow a friend's great advice from last May's race by not weaving and waiting instead for natural openings, but none were forthcoming! So, the moral of the story is: GET THERE EARLY!! Finally, allow me to extend a most hearty congratulations to Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia who, on his own private, separate course, smoked the world record in the half marathon on Sunday, giving Elite Racing a claim to stake in his glory. | |
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S. Y. from Washington, DC
(1/30/2006)
"Fast, flat race with great weather!" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was an excellently run marathon, especially considering its size. The volunteers were wonderfully helpful and very knowledgable. The course was as flat and fast as advertised and the finish was relatively well herded. Medals are nice - and popsicles, what a great idea!! One small qualm: I would have preferred separate starting areas for the full and half marathoners. All were kind of grouped together, though the half marathoners started 50 minutes later. I missed the start of the race waiting 45 minutes in a porta-pottie line crammed full of half marathoners. Other than that, very nicely done. | |
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T. M. from Michigan
(1/27/2006)
"Wonderful event" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I really enjoyed this race. I'm not sure anything could have been done to make it better. Crowd support was good, water stations were great, and the course was flat - not to mention almost perfect weather. | |
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Richard Hincha from Dayton, Ohio
(1/27/2006)
"Not scenic, but flat and spacious." (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I'll be the first to agree that Rock 'n' Roll is not a particularly scenic marathon course. However, scenery is not going to help you run any faster. I appreciated the flat course and the extra-wide streets. You didn't feel like a sardine wedged in a tin with all the other sardines, as is often the case with other marathons. Lots of enthusiastic spectators and the bands were great. Power drink seemed to be rather thinly mixed at most stations. Unlike some others, I had no problem with the car drop or bus ride; it went very smoothly. The expo, incidentally, was great, with lots of interesting vendors; goody bag could have been a bit more generous, though. | |
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R. N. from Washington DC
(1/25/2006)
"Good race, but not the greatest venue." (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Much as I like Scottsdale, this course is boring and much of it is without any real crowd support. But it's relatively flat and nice other than that. Elite continues to get better every race I run with them. Hard to find any fault with them on this one. The new PowerBar beverage is probably the best I've had. | |
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C. M. from Texas
(1/24/2006)
"A GREAT P.R. course!!" (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I ran the 1/2. The course was a flat, fast course with a few very small rises toward the end. Great for a PR, which is exactly what I did! I have run 3 marathons and numerous halfs, and this by far was the best organized - especially for a race this size! Crowd support was sparse on the half course until closer to the end, and hey, you are in the desert so, HELLO, scenery is just not that spectacular! Took the hotel shuttle and it dropped me off right at the start. Wave start was also great so there wasn't nearly as much crowd weaving. Drink lots of water though, because it's easy to dehydrate quickly in the desert! GREAT RACE! | |
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j. v. from Dallas, Texas
(1/24/2006)
"Big race, big medals, lots of people" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I love great races... big or small. This race had a nice expo; not great, but very nice, and large. I actually thought that it had enough space, but others disagree in their reviews (I did love some of the fortunes in the fortune cookies!). There was a very nice licensed goods section; not as good as the Flying Pig, but excellent nonetheless. Okay, it was a big race full of big race problems. The 100th running of Boston should have been studied; it was executed well, while this was not executed well. I am sure that there was an excellent plan, but they needed to close roads for the buses or something to make the process work. It was a borderline nightmare.... I personally had no problems, but I saw lines that were frightening. Whatever, the plan was failing everywhere... buses, porta-potties, start line (no corrals despite the title). Big races cannot have warm food... the lines would be unbelievable, but this was a high-dollar race and had very meager food (I loved the popsicle!), no finisher's shirt included with the price of entry, but a great medal! Being a snob, I hated that the half got a medallion as nice as, or better than, the full... the marathon needs to be better than the half in all ways: food, shirt, medal, organization.... The race is only there for the marathon, not the other way around. The bands were front-loaded. More, and better, bands up front when you don't need them. Heck, I'd refuse to play late in the race as you'd have to play all day and half the night in a big race (as they encourage walkers that require support for hours, and hours, and hours, and hours, and... well you get the idea). Okay, decent spectators, but not great yet. Decent bands, but also not great yet. Great medals! Marginal food. Lousy bag-check. Organized by name, not number (okay, the numbers were by speed so this should have evened out the lines, but it failed to work - two lines were over an hour long, and there were no lines anywhere else??? Bad guess at the names of the runners??? It turned out as bad as having 30 trucks by bib number). Confusing how to meet any of your friends. Not sure if an earlier start would have helped, but this start did not work. The staggered start times should have worked, as should have the alphabet bag-check, but somehow the best laid plans can fail miserably. Now that I am done complaining, it WAS a good race. Flat, and run on huge streets for the most part so that there was plenty of room for the runners. A big expo, lots of nice merchandise, a good theme, big names showed up. This is a good stop for a January run. Plan on lots of people, lots of confusion your first time there, and enjoy a huge event. There is no reason that this event doesn't continue to get bigger and better every year! | |
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T. B. from Chicago
(1/24/2006)
"Great marathon in the making." (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 I loved the fact that it was a medium-size race of about 8,000 runners but without the crowded feeling. My only complaint was with the the replacement drink. I with they had it at all the stations but most of all I wish it would have been mixed correctly (some cups were super concentrated and yellow while others were super diluted and very pale). For big-city fan support, this was less than I expected; and the course was less than scenic, but it was flat or downhill and very fast. | |
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R. R. from Minneapolis
(1/23/2006)
"poorly organized start, very boring course" (about: 2006)
First Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 I ran the 1/2 marathon and agree with others comments about the terrible lines waiting for the shuttles to the start. My partner and I arrived 45 minutes early for the shuttle, waited almost two hours in line, and we didn't cross the starting line until 9:15 AM, 45 minutes AFTER the 1/2 marathon began. The MC wasn't even announcing anymore. We spent the entire race trying to navigate through other runners that were running at a slower pace, and as a result we were not able to really enjoy the run. I only saw seven of the 15 bands that were supposed to be playing along the course, and of those, only five were actually playing by the time we got to them. The course itself was extremely boring and rather ugly - being flat isn't everything. I've run three previous 1/2 marathons and in this case I most definitely did not get what I paid for. | |
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Troy Rambo from Ohio
(1/23/2006)
"Just a ho-hum race." (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I really don't know what to say about this race as nothing really struck me as anything but ordinary. The course, while flat, was like running on a treadmill for 26 miles. The spectators were above average but it didn't seem like there were as many as advertised. The expo was very crowded and should be in a much bigger facility to accommodate the 30+ thousand runners. The weather was great but I think the start should be pushed to 6:30 or 7 AM to get the benefit of cooler temps. I also think the medical staff could have been a little more helpful. I had internal issues at mile 23 and had to limp in. The doctor told me there was nothing he could do for me so I should drink fluids and rest. Like I wasn't going to do that anyway.... Haha. All in all, it's an average race and for the money, there are better races out there. |
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