The Rock n Roll Las Vegas race should definitley be on your bucket list! But I recommend you plan it as an end-of-the-year celebration with friends! Don't go to PR, else you'll miss out on all the fun!

PROS:
Late start. Allows you sleep in and take your time getting ready. (But don't recommend going crazy the night before.)

They completely shut down the strip. So it's an amazing one-of-a kind experience.

It's a party! Music, lights, tons of spectators.

Awesome pre-race concert! Macklemore to get you pumped up before the run. Pure awesome!

Post-race Beer. Usually you have to wait to weave your way through the crowd to find your beer tent and get your free beer from RnR. This time, they were handing them out before you made you way through the finish corral!

CONS:
Late start. You have to watch what you eat throughout the day, but still need to eat. Takes some planning.

COLD!! This race seems plagued with cold. Was even moved up a few weeks to avoid it, but a cold snap came right in. However, if you plan ahead, it won't catch you off guard.

"Perks". Although I like the idea that Rock N Roll had tons of "perks" such as discounts and free drinks available throughout the weekend, I felt that they were not what they seemed. A "free drink" at a specific bar, within an allotted hour, and only one kind of drink is very limited when in a huge city.
But the thought is what counts and it does stand out compared to what other races may offer.

The Full. Many friends ran the full, and some dropped down to the half mid-way through. Those who completed the full enjoyed it, but they were finishing late into the evening. Also, the cut-off was much shorter than most full marathon b/c they had to reopen the strip to traffic.

All in all I would definitely recommend the race, but it's one you definitely need to plan ahead for. Plan to have FUN!

For a complete race review and tons of pics from the course, check out my Race Review HERE:
http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/2014/11/rnr-vegas-review-my-mission-for-13.html

I've done a lot of Rock and Roll Races. Denver is now one of my favorites! The course is rolling, so there ARE some hills, but nothing horrible. The scenery was fantastic! Fall colors throughout the entire race, city skylines... and the weather couldn't be beat! It was chilly at the start, but I had a long sleeve shirt to throw away at the beginning. It quickly warmed up to a comfortable race temp.

The best part of this race course was that it was a big loop. Not and out and back, so you got different views, but you started and finished at the same spot. And it was within a five minute walk to the host hotel. I was also "mid-pack" with my sister, and never had any issues at the aide stations. Although, I never saw the GU station. I guess I missed it. But fortunately I brought plenty with me.

As far as the expo goes, the Rock and Roll Races always have the largest expos. However, I was surprised to find booths for PETS! So I got swag not just for me, but for my pup too! Pretty great.

Also, I decided to take a selfie at every mile! For all the selfie fun and more pics from the race, check out my full Race Review HERE: http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/2014/10/131-miles-131-selfies-rock-n-roll.html

All in all, Denver RnR exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend it! I also took 13 selfies for

Running across the Golden Gate Bridge was always on my bucket list, and this is THE race to do just that! But there's so much more! The weather was perfect, and the course takes you through some other great tourist spots like Golden Gate Park and Fisherman's Warf. Best of all? FREE digital photos! That's right! The race offers their professional race photos of you out on the course for free! First race I've ever been to that does that!

The t-shirts were great too! Long sleeve, but each race distance was a different color! So you really felt unique. And the medals were different sizes too depending on what distance you ran.

Now, the course WAS hilly but not too difficult. As long as you work in some hills to your training, you'll do fine. Just don't go expecting a flat course. It's more rolling then anything too crazy.

The expo was small, but still packed full of goodies! And afterwards the post-race was a feast! All in all this was an excellent race and I highly recommend it. If you'd like to see all my photos from the race (including all my golden gate bridge selfies) and a more detailed race recap, check out my blog: http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-san-francisco-marathon-race-review.html

If you've never done a Ragnar Trail Relay yet... do it! Why? The VIEWS! You just can't get this kind of running route anywhere else! You're running through the heart of the mountains and the scenery will literally take your breath away! Although so will the elevation :) This race is perfect for everyone from trail running veterans to the newbie. I'm an intermediate trail runner, and had no issues with the trails themselves.

However, I didn't train for the elevation! It starts at around 8,000ft! If you're not used to training in elevation, I suggest getting at least one or two high-altitude runs in before tackling this course. Nevertheless, the spectacular scenery was worth the burning lungs.

The hotel packages were very affordable. And I flew in from Denver and drove about 3.5-4 hours to Aspen/Snowmass. That helped save a lot money, so you don't have to spend a fortune on this race.

Major differences between Ragnar TRAIL and regular Ragnar Relay:
--Camping in a tent vs riding in a Van. Ideally, this would allow you to get more sleep. But it ended up dropping to 29 degrees! So we got very little sleep, but this is pretty common with ANY Ragnar Relay.

--My "regular" team was made up of 8 people instead of the normal 12. Ultra teams were only 4 members. Other teams had a member not show up, drop out b/c of injury, etc... and they just split up the extra loops among existing members.

--Every runner ran the same 3 loops. Just in different orders. The loops varied in distance and difficulty. It was nice sharing the same experience with my entire team, but we still had different experiences b/c some would run one loop at night while yours may have been during the day. And that can completely change your perspective on the route! Each runner ends up doing approximately 15 miles.

---Food!! Friday night dinner was included in your "entry fee". And it was an awesome carb-a-licious spread! But they also had lunch and breakfast available for purchase. That breakfast buffet was the best thing ever! For those who've done a Regular Ragnar Relay, you know you end up living on energy bars and GU for 24 hours. So having this food available (and GOOD food too!) meant a world of difference! Also, FREE S'mores and FREE coffee and hot chocolate from 10pm-10am the next day! Can't beat that!

The only "cons" with this race were the COLD! Our multiple weather sources said it would get down to 45, but what we didn't realize is that it got much much colder down at the bottom of the valley where we were located. It dropped to 29 degrees according to our camping thermometer!!! PERFECT warm weather during the day, but freezing at night. So bring warm layers! Fortunately, there was a bonfire going all night and they started up a couple more smaller fires to get us through the night. That, and the awesome hot chocolate!

Also, the phone-charging station was somewhat of a nightmare. Sometimes it would work, others it wouldn't. I fortunately had invested in a mobile battery pack and a teammate had brought a solar-powered charger so I made it through.

Additional advice, know your team and be ready at the transition! They had screens to watch for your team members to see when they were were nearly done, but half the time the screens were glitchy. My team was good about judging how long each of us would take on each loop... but while standing in transition I was surprised by the amount of times a runner would come in and their runner was no where in sight. So either get to transition early, or at least know your team members well!

All in all, it was an amazing adventure that I'm still raving about! Hopefully my review will help convince you to do a Ragnar Trail, and specifically Snowmass! You won't regret it!

Full a more detailed review, check out my blog for tons of pics and a detailed recap of the race! http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/ragnar-trail-relay-snowmass-race-review.html

If you are looking to PR or to Qualify for Boston... *THIS* is your race! The course is flat with a negative elevation loss of about 1000ft. The weather is always great (this time we had some rain but didn't stop me from knocking 30 minutes off my full marathon time!) and the aide stations have some excellent goodies! I swear the bananas after mile 20 saved me from cramping! Also, the t-shirt is pretty sweet and they give out matching arm sleeves as well. For a full review on the race, check out my blog (http://confessionsofanamateurathlete.blogspot.com/ ) I highly reccomend this race but advise you to sign up early b/c they DO sell out quick!!