I write this as a walker! But with a 5 hour deadline, walkers are clearly welcome (we came in under 4). Go into this race with the attitude of simply "I will finish". It starts with the beautiful red rocks in the background and for almost the entire race, they are in your viewpoint. It's an "in and out" course so only the beginning and ending are in town. Roads are in great shape. The water stops volunteers were some of the best I've experienced. They each stayed till those of us walkers at the back of the pack came through. Lots of water. Lots of GU gels and bananas. But the HILLS!!! Oh my!! You won't get a PR here. I used this as a training run for a flat course I'm doing later this month so just wanted to get 13.1 miles of endurance in. As we crossed the finish line, there was still lots of enthusiasm from the volunteers and plenty of snacks. They were just as enthusiastic about us crossing as if we'd crossed 2 hours earlier.
Stayed at Arroyo Pinion Hotel which was close enough to walk to the start/finish line. It's a destination race- Sedona has lots of great eating/drinking places and the beauty is awesome.
They do have a 5K and 10K option too - but why not go for the BIG ONE - Half marathon!
Yes, it's a hard 13.1 miles but I'd still recommend it-at least once!!!