San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon

The San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon is a combined half/​full marathon race that is part of the RNR series. The group that coordinates the racing series is pretty well organized (seeing as how they put on a race about every month in a different city) and it certainly shows. The expo is well run (albeit a bit small), shuttles that take you to the start are efficient and the waterstations and finish line are clearly the finished product of extensive practice.
So this is a nice race to run knowing that all the nit-​picky details have been long-​ago smoothed out. So organizationally, this is a 5 star effort; I’m giving 4 stars since the course could be a little bit more scenic (several miles of strip malls and interstate overheads are present).
I did the half marathon this year and the course starts out in the northeast part of the city. There are shuttles that run from downtown to the start line so that it’s easy for people staying along the Riverwalk. This is a really flat race; other than a minor hill at the end, there are no noticeable grades along the course. As above, there are several miles of running past gas stations and parking lots, although part of the race goes through the more scenic downtown (and the marathon course went past the Alamo). Even more conveniently, the race went right past my hotel: I was able to finish, walk back to the hotel, shower and head outside to cheer on the runners still going past. (In retrospect this may have been a little mean; I stopped and grabbed some ice cream and was cheering «You can do it!» in between bites of chocolate chip soft serve. My bad.)
Even though it was a bit hot during the race (mid-​70s, 94% humidity), it didn’t seem too bad and they did a good job with plenty of water, cytomax as well as cold sponges along the course. This is a great race to run and a good reason to visit San Antonio.

The course was much better than last year… Did anyone notice? There were more cheer squads and more people outside of their homes, drinking and celebrating the 37,000 runners going on their little streets. One guy had a sign that said «Keep Running Because We are already drunk»!!! So funny! It was only 9am at that point in the race.
I finished almost 14 minutes faster than last year due to the outstanding athlete’s tape and Gu handed out at the expo. My friend asked if I will run it again and my only response is this… I am a San Antonian BECAUSE I run that race every year. I was there when it started and hopefully my children will be there as it continues.
Great job Rock and Roll! You blessed our city with a great crowd of Marathoners and Olympians. Fantastic.

It was a bad experience for me as a first time marathoner. I have ran 2 previous half marathons this year and this has got to be one of the hottest runs ever. The start we were near 70s that’s just way too hot to be about for 5+ hours. People were cramping all over the place myself included. The signs were cool along the path and so were the bands.
I feel the support could have been better. Gu stops were way too late in the race and too close together from what I remember ¹¹⁄₁₄ miles? The cytomax stuff didn’t seem to be working and salt without water. Bananas along the way would have been nice. The sponges were not even cold.
The race ended on a hill. Really? It was nice that I was able to finish my first full marathon but I doubt I will be coming back for this event.