This was my first Rock 'n' Roll Seattle, and my second R'n'R race overall (Chicago was the other). As with Chicago, R'n'R just doesn't disappoint - great course, SWAG, and overall race management.

Seattle is a beautiful city and the race course takes full advantage. You start at the Space Needle, wind up and down some pretty big hills, along lots of waterfront, and across several bridges that provide awesome views of the city. Weather was sunny and 60s - just perfect (though would be warm if I was running the full or trying to PR).

Expo
The expo was at Century Link field, which was really nice. Very spacious, logical layout, and lots of exhibitors, easy to get to (parking was $20). Packet pick up was a breeze.

Race Day
I was lucky enough to be given a VIP tent pass, so I got to drop off my bag and warm up at the lounge overlooking the finisher area. Obviously this was a very nice treat before the race, with private porto potties, food, coffee/juice etc. More on the VIP tent and post race amenities below.

Race
The starting area was well organized and the race started right on time, with the Space Needle serving as "The Worlds Largest Starter Pistol" (meaning they shot fireworks off the SN to start the race, which was pretty cool. Aid stations were all well organized, with paper cups and Gatorade before water at each station (as it should be!). Great volunteers.

One of the coolest parts of the race was a full mile takeover by a group called Wear Blue: Run to Remember. They had pictures of fallen US military personnel, and people holding large American flags lining the course for a mile. The visual was very moving and extremely cool. Loved it.

The course is hilly, but it's not crazy. There is a large hill at the end of the course that's pretty tough - otherwise the hills are manageable.

Finish line was great - always solid finisher treats (including a new chocolate milk product called RE-fuel, by Darigold). Only thing is that I wish they gave you a bag so you don't have to struggle to carry a lot of the stuff they are handing out.

Post Race - VIP tent
The VIP area for post race was just awesome. Being able to pick up my bag at the VIP area was really nice - no wait, no hassle. They had tons of food (incl two types of breakfast burritos), massages (!), pastas, deserts, and free Michelob Ultra and mimosas. Plus lots of seating and tables which made it easy to relax and eat after the race.

Jess and I sat with three delightful ladies [Nikki Scott (@ndscottnygren) http://slownewfast.com/, Jackie (@Jacki_66) http://1happypace.com/, and Sarah Arsenault (@Wyers31)] and had so much fun chatting with them about the race and running scene in Vancouver (where they are from).

Normally the VIP tent is $80, which might sound like a lot, but Nikki made a great point that with parking (included w/ VIP), massages, pre race food, post race food, post race drinks, and private gear check/porto potties - you really do get a lot.

Overall, I had a fantastic race experience and would totally run this race again. It'd be a tough race to PR, but I'd stilly highly recommend.

*Full disclosure: I received a free race entry and VIP tent access, though all opinions are my own.

I'll start with the conclusion - this is an OUTSTANDING race. Definitely lived up to its stellar reputation and what one would expect of a World Marathon Major. Worthy of a place on your race bucket list!

The London Marathon is super hard to get into, and a group of us wanted to travel to London and do the race together, so we all locked in entries by booking through Marathon Tours. This is a fairly expensive option, but overall it was fine and it got us into the race.

We used Marathon Tours' transportation options to get to the start, so I can't comment on standard travel to the race. But I'm told the city does pretty well getting people to the race start.

Speaking of race start - the London Marathon has different starting groups, all beginning in different locations and eventually all converging on the race course about 2-3 miles into the race. I've never started a race like that, and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. We waited in a large athlete area before the start (very similar to athlete's village in Boston).
NOTABLE - they had plastic, fenced-in urinals for guys to use. This allowed a massive amount of people who just had to pee to move through the area quickly without holding up porto-johns for females and guys needing to poo. I really hope races in the US adopt the plastic urinals - brilliant idea, seems to be low cost, and has a HUGE impact on bathroom congestion before the start.

Race started on time and right from the get go, the crowds were just incredible. Constant crowd support for the entire race, with people all drinking outside of pubs and cheering the runners on like crazy. Crowds at London easily rivaled those at Boston, and Boston's friggin' nuts.

Weirdest thing about the London Marathon to me was the aid station/hydration set-up. All water comes in 6-8 oz individual bottles with flip-open sport tops. This made taking water and moving through aid stations SUPER easy (for those of us at the front-ish of the race. I'm told the congestion in the middle and back of the race due to tens of thousands of discarded plastic bottles was SIGNIFICANT). So - this was definitely a treat for me, as I could take and carry water very easily. But the plastic and water waste (from people just taking a sip and discarding the bottle - extremely common) was just incredible.

The sport drink situation was even weirder. Their sport drink was Lucozade, which I got to try at the expo and immediately ruled out drinking on course due to how sweet it was. Just water and two gels for me. But just as with the water, all Lucozade came in bottles with sport tops. But the Lucozade bottles were huge! Each was like a 20 oz bottle!!! That is a ridiculous amount to drink at one time, and 99% of runners I saw and talked to had one sip and threw the rest of the full bottle on the ground. That's a breath-taking amount of waste, and as I said above, it really piled up on people at the back. I'm lucky enough that it didn't affect me, but - wow.

My race went well until mile 18, and as is the norm for me lately, I totally fell off pace and was just dying. I had to dig probably harder than in any other road race to keep going (I haven't wanted to stop and walk so badly in a race before), but I was able to keep going and squeak out a PR. Any PR is definitely a win, but I was about 5 minutes off my goal time so there will ben some training reassessment in my future.

I moved through the finish line very easily, got my SWAG bag (you ONLY get your shirt if you finish, which I kind of liked =D), and a bag just stacked with food, samples, more water and more Lucozade. EXCELLENT swag, and I love that it came in a bag! Hate fumbling with an armful of food right after a race.

Shirt and medal were both excellent - cool Adidas shirt and a very ornate medal. Loved both.

Again, this is a tough Marathon to make happen for non-UK residents, but I was extremely pleased with the race and would HIGHLY recommend to the travel-oriented runner!

I'll be honest, I only ran this race because it was #1 on my wife's bucket list and she did the Goofy Challenge (half marathon the day before), so I had to do AT LEAST the marathon. Yes, that's the kind of world we live in now, I have to say I ONLY did the marathon... :)

Anyway, we flew down there and stayed at Art of Animation Studios (Disney Hotel) and it was pretty cool. Won't get into the hotel in as much detail, but it was conveniently located relative to the race start. Morning of the race, the bus got us there no problem, and it was really nice to just sit and be taken to the start without having to worry about where we were going or what traffic would be like.

Once we got off the bus, the gear check and corrals were all really well marked and we began the walk to the start line. It was kind of long, but that's typical for big marathons and I didn't mind it at all. It was a tad cool in the morning (low 50s, high 40s), so I liked having the walk before standing in the corrals for too long.

I was fortunate enough to be in corral A, and once you got up to corral C, B, and A, things started to thin out and there was plenty of room to run around and warm up. It was pretty cool to see Micky, Donald, Goofy on stage to pump people up before the race and as different waves ran by, and even Dopey made an appearance. Overall, great energy and atmosphere at the beginning.

Then, the pyrotechnics. Right at the start, they send off some pretty impressive fireworks - really cool way to start the race. But then, I learned that they do that for EVERY CORRAL START. Wave after wave of corrals going by, round after round of fireworks. Very cool.

The race path is actually very representative of how Disney World is laid out (I was a total newbie, so didn't really know this). Disney parks are pretty spread out, so you have long-ish periods of open/dead space, punctuated by intermittent areas with TONS of energy and excitement.

Seeing the Magic Kingdom fully lit up against the pitch black sky was seriously breathtaking - easily one of the coolest things I've ever seen during a race. Characters on the course were super cool, and because I was up-front-ish there were never any lines for pics (though I didn't really take advantage of this). Running on the Disney Speedway (race car track) - awesome. ESPN Wide World of Sports, running through all the athletic fields, track and field area, and baseball stadium was a total and unexpected treat. Such a cool way to break things up. Running along the boardwalk and water with heroic music blasting and tons of volunteers and Disney characters cheering you on the last 3-4 miles? So cool - this definitely helped me pick the pace way up. Seriously very cool race course and finish.

Aid stations - Chicago Marathon has awesome aid stations, as does the Boston Marathon - both exemplary. Disney was as good if not better. SO frequent, so well stocked, so well organized, SO well manned. Spectating Disney races is pretty hard because they there are only a few approved places from which to watch, so volunteers really have some of the best seats to watch and they take FULL advantage of it. Two Clif Shot stations, and tons of water and Powerade. Impressive.

Expo was fine, easy in and out with a solid amount of vendors to keep shoppers active. My shirt was pretty much what I've come to expect from races, tech T that is laughably too large and baggy. But the design was nice and a black long sleeve as it was would have been cool if it'd fit.

Scenery as I mentioned above was sporadic, but when it was good, it was really good. Elevation was pretty flat - I think there were only like two hills and they were very manageable. After the race was SO easy - I walked though the finisher area, got my medal (which is awesome), and water/powerade/banana in a few seconds. Went to gear check, got my bag with no line and could have walked on the bus back to my hotel - all within 10 minutes.

I chose to delay because I heard there was a massage tent, so I went to go take advantage of that. Turns out you had to pay for a massage ($1 per minute), which is definitely a first for me. I've never seen massages offered that weren't free. But the thing about free massages is, the lines tend to be prohibitively long, so most can't really take advantage of them. By charging a minimal amount, they actually cut the waiting list WAY down. For $10, I'd be happy to pay to not have to wait an hour for my 10-12 minute massage. One dollar per minute was reasonable and something I'd be willing to pay again in the future.

My bus was right outside the massage tent, so again, transportation was SUPER easy in and out of the start/finish area. For such a huge production, management did a bang up job laying everything out and organizing all the stations.

Disney is definitely a destination race, and even a guy like me who's really not into Disney would recommend the race to serious and non-serious runners alike. It's definitely one to put on your list if it's not there already!

Overall, I loved this race. Nice course, super easy parking and access, nice SWAG and post-race treats, and an awesome downhill finish. The Indy Monumental Marathon is an absolute must for anyone trying to BQ (I'd actually recommend it for BQ-ing over Chicago Marathon, and I'll explain why below).

PROS

Expo
The Expo was dead simple - located at the Indianapolis Convention Center, super easy street parking, medium sized booth area that had enough stuff and races to look at but wasn't overwhelming. In and out no problem.

Race Day
Parking for this race was also a breeze - I left my friends house at about 7am and arrived at near the race start about 10 minutes later. I literally just pulled into the first ramp I saw, paid $10 and parked on the first level. Definitely the easiest time I've ever had driving to a road race (trail races are usually super small so parking for those is usually really easy). The ramp was about two blocks from the start, so off I went.

Start area
I actually didn't see many signs indicating where Gear Check was, and everyone I asked said they were local so didn't have a bag to check. I just walked to the area where the race packet said GC would be, and the MC was announcing that it was behind the stage, right next to the porto potties and a few yards from the corrals. It was a very cold morning (felt like 20 degrees F with the wind chill), so being able to walk up and drop my bag at the last minute was huge. They also didn't really close the corrals, so I could jog around and warm up before gun time. Start corrals were totally smooth, and we were off for an on-time start.

Race Course
This course had a ton of turns, and I actually was prepared to dislike that, but because the field wasn't super huge (about 3,000 I think) they were no big deal. Taking the inside tangent was easy, and the turns provided a break from the wind, which was about 18 mph that day. You run past Lucas Oil stadium, around the World War Monument, and through different parts of the city. Overall, it was a very nice course, with a few hills and that awesome downhill finish for the last 6-7 miles.
Here's why I think the hills actually make Indy Monumental a better BQ course than Chicago. Chicago's elevation pretty much stays the same the entire race - Flat. That results in the same (limited) muscles getting just pounded for 26.2 miles. At Indy, there were a few minor hills that we had to climb, and doing so kind of provided a rest for the muscles that had been carrying me over the previous flat part of the race. Going up hill occasionally, and then downhill for a long time allowed me to spread out some of the pain from running and left me feeling less banged up by the race end.

Finish line
The finishers area was awesome - tons of FREE Jimmy Johns, water and gatorade as soon as you cross the line, CHOCOLATE MILK!, Chili, massages, a free stocking hat, and instead of a heat sheet they gave out those disposable windproof white hooded zip up jackets. My legs were totally smoked and my body temp started falling quickly, so I unfortunately couldn't get in on the massages or chili. But I was damn satisfied with all the food and amenities at the end.

SWAG
T-shirt was really nice - mine was too big for me but they usually are. Finisher medal was also really nice, and manages to be one part of a four part puzzle to encourage people to run the race four years in a row. But they did it in a way that doesn't make the medal I got look incomplete, so I liked the idea.

CONS

Aid Stations
There was really only one negative aspect about this race, and it's something that's a super easy fix. The aid stations, which were plentiful, and well-stocked, all had water first and then Gatorade (in that order). It's pretty general race planning that the runner should be able to get Gatorade first and then water second to prevent tasting Gatorade the next few miles. Especially on a hot day (which this day was not), Gatorade THEN water is even more important. All they need to do is flip the order of Gatorade and water, and problem solved.

My race
Long story short, I came here to get a bit of redemption after a poor showing at the Chicago Marathon 3 weeks previously. I had no idea what my fitness level would be, so I was just going to try and PR by however small a margin. I ended up running my first negative split, and PR'd by almost three minutes! Final time was 2:50:21.

Again - this is a fantastic race that is comparatively small but feels big as far as production goes. Great bang for your buck, super low maintenance, and a very enjoyable event. If you are looking to PR or BQ (or both), I highly recommend this race!

(Full disclosure - I was given a free entry to this race but opinions are all my own :))

SIGH... It's hard to find a better race with better conditions than the 2014 Chicago Marathon. This was my 3rd Chicago Marathon (2009, 2012) and, other than a bit if wind here and there, the conditions were pretty much perfect. Such a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine (some said they wished it was overcast, but with the race I had, a cloudy day might have actually been the thing to push me off the ledge to DNF. More below :))

PROS:
The Chicago Marathon is a portrait of professionalism when it comes to putting on a race. Communication was timely and informative, the expo was easy, and race day went like clockwork.

Expo was at McCormick Center, a huge and ideal expo venue in the city of Chicago, and was outstanding (thanks to the thousands of volunteers and local running/sporting goods store employees). I know several people who went back multiple times just to experience all the expo had to offer, and McCormick is not the easiest to get to without a car (but they do validate so parking was only $10!), so repeat trips says something about the expo quality.

The shirt - super plain color (dark gray), but the fit is good and I didn't have a huge problem with it. Some people were mad about the color, and I would have preferred something brighter I suppose, but they're gender specific, well-fitting Nike shirts that look good. Can't ask for much more.

Race day morning was actually the most packed and crowded I've ever felt at a Chicago Marathon, but this is clearly due to it being my first Chicago since the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Even though it was really crowded (I mean, it's a HUGE race, you have to expect some of that), things moved along just fine and everything started right on time. Such an amazing accomplishment to get tens of thousands of people to the line and off right on schedule.

Course - The Chi Marathon course is really nice, taking runners throughout the city, along the lake, and through all the different neighborhoods. Crowd support is over-the-top good, and it is such a positive atmosphere.

Finish area - here's where the Chicago marathon really stood out for me. When I crossed the line at Boston in 2014, I had to walk a LONG time before water/gatorade or food was available. Chicago had water gatorade, and a FREE beer (in addition to the one with our bibs) available within a few steps. That was really nice and I think prevented a lot of post race meltdowns.

CONS (none for the event itself)
My race was just terrible - had the goal of 2:45 and passed the halfway mark right on time. Then around 14 or 15 my motor completely died and I could not pull anything together. Lots of cramping and leg pain, which created a very unpleasant second half of the race. Definitely a shame to lose that training cycle and not get to race hard, but that was DEFINITELY my issue and not the race's :).

I'd recommend the Chicago Marathon to literally every kind of runner - Elite, Fast, Mid-pack, Clydesdale, Newbie, Veteran - everyone.