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Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

dolphin_79605 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:56:26 GMT

I did a personal record on the course with a finish time of 4:03:00 (53min:58sec better than my last one Feb. 2008 in Austin, TX).

I traveled down a day early to visit and photograph the historic Alamo site. While there, I studied Texas history, viewed the gardens and jogged the San Antonio River Walk. The Historic sections, flora & fauna and weather were all phenomenal.

I enjoyed the town's people and other runners as well the race course volunteers who staffed the many water and aid stations.

Many thanks to the people of San Antonio for hosting us!

Constructively: Enjoyed the walk to start line, found out later I avoided bus issues. Attempted to walk from the finish area and found Elite's management planning and organization skills for the finish village safety, crowd control, package pick-up and exit strategy could benefit measurably from improvement.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

RL Loving — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:12:51 GMT

dryals wrote:

if you are not from the area and are looking for fun races in Texas, I would recommend the Austin Marathon/Half in February and the Houston Marathon/Half in January over this race.

dryals -- I agree with your sentiments.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

dryals — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:49:41 GMT

Pros:

1. San Antonio - a beautiful and friendly city

2. Weather - it was a little cold in the morning, but by the time I got across the start line it had already warmed up and the day was beautiful

3. Water stations - lots of stations and lots of volunteers

4. Finishers medal - a really nice medal

Cons:

1. Transportation to and from course - I stayed in a downtown hotel with a shuttle stop right downstairs. We got in line about 6am and were on a bus within 15 minutes, but by the time we had gotten on the bus the line had grown to several blocks long. Friends that were at the hotel said that by 7 am there were still runners in line and many people started jogging to the start line, which would have easily been a couple of miles. We were scared of something like that happening so we left early, but that meant we spent more than 1-1/2 hours standing around before our corral got to start. We had friends who parked at AT&T and they had horror stories about getting to the race and about getting back. I would not have been happy to have to stand in line for a shuttle for an hour after running the race. Some people had to give up and call taxis so that they would make their flights home in time.

2. Lack of Bands/Spectators - I was expecting LOTS more course entertainment. There are more bands at the AT&T Austin race and a LOT more spectators at both Austin and Houston. Except for downtown, there were not many spectators, except for right around the few bands and cheer squads and I think that is because it was the fans/parents of those groups.

3. Gear bag drop off/pick-up - That was ridiculous. The first time I went to pick up my stuff, it was such a mad house that I just wrote it off and said there is nothing in that bag that is worth fighting through that. Fortunately, our group was there most of the day waiting on different members to come in and by 3pm the line died down enough to get my stuff.

4. Cytomax - Yuck. I tried to train with it, but it is blech.

5. Finishers Shirt - first of all, you have to pay for a finishers shirt, and then all they had was long sleeved in mens sizes.

6. That hill - who is the sadist that put that hill on the route??

It seems like a lot of problems could have been alleviated if they had opted for a loop or out and back course instead of point to point. If the race had started and finished near the convention center, everyone downtown could have just walked to and from the start/finish. It seemed like there was a lot of parking downtown. They wouldn't have needed all those shuttles or to transport gear. That convention center looks pretty large. Surely everyone could have ended up in there instead of outside in the sun on the hard concrete.

This was my first RnR race, and maybe my expectations were too high, but I was really expecting the experience to be better organized and more runner friendly. I was disappointed in a lot of things.

Overall I did have a good weekend, but it was because of the friends we were with, the hotel we were at, and because San Antonio is so nice. It wasn't because the race organizers made the race so great. I will be back because we live in Houston and it makes for a nice long weekend for my husband and I. But if you are not from the area and are looking for fun races in Texas, I would recommend the Austin Marathon/Half in February and the Houston Marathon/Half in January over this race. Hopefully the Elite people will get it together a little better next year.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

runnergirl64 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:17:49 GMT

I wasn't to happy about the last hill, but it was an overall great experience and I would do it again.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

SALLY43 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:35:22 GMT

This was my first 1/2 marathon, so not much to compare. It seemed to be organized to me, but like everything, it was not perfect. We took a shuttle from one of the downtown hotels, and did not have a problem; we did have an issue with not sure where to go once we got there; there definately were not enough warming stands for everyone; was not about to stand near a generator & inhale all the fumes....apparently those that were standing arond had never headed the warning dangers. There should have been something warm to drink for those of us early birds. The wait to start was hard, but with that many people, what else? The volunteers & the crowds were very encouraging. Good amount of water stations, but not enough pottys to accomadate that many runners. HATED THE HILL AT THE END - HOW COULD YOU BE SO MEAN!!! and there was major traffic issue getting back to the hotels. As painful as it was, it was easier to walk than to have to sit in a car!! We did not have an issue with the hotel staying a little later, but I know of some that did. I think that is a disgrace. The hotel should be able to make some compensations to those runners who are not staying Sunday night. Parking at the expo was horrible and there was not direction whatsover!! How do they accomadate major sporting events there??? Overall , not a bad experience. Oh, and to those of you were walking the whole way, would it be possible not to congregate in the middle of the road? Its easy to get by one or two of you, but when there are six spread across the road, give me a break! Read your marathon manners next time.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

HikerGirl072 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:57:11 GMT

This was really NOT a new event--it's an existing event that Elite took over to presumably make bigger (which they did) and better (which I'd dispute). The organization was horrible. If you can't get all the runners from the AT&T Center to the start in a reasonable amount of time, there could have been more than one pickup area at the AT&T Center, for starters. We got to the start 57 minutes after the official start and we left the hotel well in advance of the time I have for any other race. The wait for the shuttles after the race was also inexcusably long. The line was routed up and down some stairs despite the fact that routing the line to the left instead would have resulted in no stairs! D'OH!

The volunteers and spectators were awesome. The cheerleaders and bands were few and far between--not even close to other Elite events. Maybe they're too focused now on quantity of races and not quality anymore, but this was NOT up to their usual standards. I've done at least 3 of their other inaugural events and this one doesn't even compare. The expo was a mob scene. The lines were ridiculous. They're sacrificing the excellence of their events to collect more money from more runners for a worse event. Making me think long and hard about signing up for Seattle.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

edthompson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:28:39 GMT

I enjoyed myself and have registered for next year. However, the race was poorly organized, planed and carried out. It would appear it was more important to crowd 30,000 people onto a course that could hold maybe 10,000, than it was to do a great job with a smaller cap. And I applaud getting as many people there as possible. But it a 2 edged sword. You have to be prepared for them. The race was not well supported. Imagine a finish area in the hot sun, sitting on asphalt with no shade, extreme crowding, a 45 minute line to get out and to the shuttles. The 70 bands were not. Maybe 55, and 40 were only on the full course. And the ones on the half had finished their sets and quit before a lot of people even got there. It took an hour and five minutes for me to get to the start line. The half was won before I started. Even the bands had finished before I even started. And it was 35 degrees out, and I had arrived 45 min early because of the extreme shuttle delay issues. I believe it will be much improved next year and I look forward to seeing it as a well organized race.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

coriander1209 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:35:33 GMT

This was my very first marathon/half marathon that I have ever ran in and I thought it was done very well. I really liked the corral start. I thought this was a great idea so that no one got hurt by a surging crowd of people. I ran the half marathon and I thought the course was really good. However, I did not like the hill at the end of the course. A little too excruciating after running 13 miles. The Cytomax was not great at the water stations, but there were definitely plenty of them. The shuttle issue did not affect me very much, but I do know that while I was waiting in my corral to get to the start line, I saw a ton of people rushing to get to their corral even though corral had already started. The line for the shuttle after the race was a little much, but it did move quickly. However, water definitely would have been a plus to have when standing in line for 30-45 min waiting on the shuttle. I was grateful for the family reunion section because I would have never found my party without it. The food at the end was just okay. All in all I thought it was a great race and I would most def run it again next year. I am looking forward to seeing how the shuttle, parking and road closures would change for the better at the next race.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

ChristiK — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:38:47 GMT

I ran the 1/2 marathon on Sunday and I have to say I was very happy with my experience. However, I did not use the shuttles from the AT&T Center. I thought the course, water stations and volunteers were fabulous. Though, I could have done without the hill at the very end!!!! The finish area was crowded but I have noticed the same thing in the Phoenix RnR marathon. Luckily, I was aware of this and my family and I had definite plans for meeting up again. I thought the expo was too crowded but enjoyed all the booths and running celebrities. I did not drink the Cytomax but I heard several complaints at the water stations. Overall, I had a great time and will probably go back.

Re: Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon & 1/2 Marathon Reviews

christy170 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:58:01 GMT

All in all I thought this was a very good race. I ran last year and this course was by far much better! The hill at the end however, was tourture!!!!! Too much traffic, I almost missed the start, lucky for me I was in corral 13 and didn't actually cross the start line until 8:00 am. I'm still not sure I like that wave start but what are you gonna do with that many runners. For an inaugural event I thought it went pretty smoothly. As for the lady that had trouble with her hotel, she could have stayed somewhere else, all you have to do is request a late checkout if they say no try another hotel, that is not the races fault. I do however agree about the charge for the shuttle, that was a little much! I also agree about nothing warm to eat, where were the eggs and sausage? And no finishers t-shirt, we have to buy that if we want one, they were free last year. But really when all is said and done it was a great race all that other stuff is minor, I had a great time, met some great people, and will for sure do it again.