This is my second year running the Phoenix Marathon. I had an amazing experience in 2015 and since it's super close to my home, I had to run again. This year saw a few changes to the event. First off, the Expo was held at The Sheraton Hotel in Mesa Riverview - this was a much better location for an expo than last year in the parking lot of Sports Authority. There were more vendors this year and it was still very well organized and quick & easy to pick up my race packet and shirt. They had tank tops again this year for women, but I'll admit I much preferred the 2015 design. This year was just a solid blue. It does have a nice zippered pocket - perfect for holding a gel or a small ipod.

Parking and traffic on race morning was crazy. Granted, I left a little later than I normally would, but traffic was a nightmare leading up to the exit and once you got off the freeway things moved horribly slow. Better signage and traffic control would help. This year the starting area was set up a little different. The bus dropped us off at one end of the starting area - we (my friends & I) came upon the rows of porta-potties where we stood in line waiting our turns. The starting gun fired before we were done :( But since it's chip timed we weren't worried about starting a little late. We then jogged past the heaters and bon fires they had set up and dropped off our gear bags.

It was kind of nice to start after the huge crowd and be able to begin at our preferred pace without being affected by the crush of runners. The first 4 1/2 miles went by smoothly and I was able to enjoy running at my pace and take advantage of the downhills. Then we hit the hill and my friends and I separated. The hill tends to do that. However, I came upon another friend around mile 5 and we stayed together till about mile 15 when his knee started giving him problems.

This year was much like last year for me - the first half was amazing, the second half not so much. I don't know if it's because the second half is so very flat in comparison to the mostly downhill first half, or if it's because I push myself so hard at this race, but the last 6 - 8 miles of this course are slow and painful.

Phoenix does have a great finisher's area. The medal this year is the first in a series of 5 that will connect to make a 5 point star, each point representing one of Arizona's 5 Cs (copper, cattle,citrus, cotton, climate). They had cold, wet cloths for runners along with water right after crossing the finish line - which was huge this year at the temperature hit a high of 80.

Like last year, they had a huge tent where complimentary massages were available or there was room to stretch on your own. Famous Dave's and Kneaders had tents where they had yummy food offerings for the finishers as well. There were other vendors also who had a variety of food stuffs available.

Overall this is a great marathon - it's well run and it's a fast course. If they can improve the traffic and parking situation that would be a huge plus, but next year I'll just plan to leave super early.