San Antonio Rock N Roll Marathon Race Report

Yesterday I ran in the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.

I was really jazzed about running in a rock 'n roll race, since I've heard such great things about them. This was an inaugural even though, and I'm sad to say they have a few kinks to work out. Compared to Dallas's White Rock and Austin's AT&T Marathon, San Antonio just didn't measure up. Even so, it's always an amazing feeling crossing that finish line, and I'm glad I went.

This marathon uses a unique corral system to begin the race- unlike anything I have experienced at any other race. When you sign up for the marathon, you are asked to predict your finishing time. Based on that prediction, you are assigned a start corral. For all the penguins out there, like me, this means you end up in corral 20 or so, and I believe there were about 35 corrals total.

Theoretically, this is not an awful idea, as it eliminates the pushing and shoving that goes on in a lot of races at the start when you get 8 min. milers mixed up with 11 min milers and walkers.

However, the execution of their corral system was lacking, and a completely bizarre system. Instead of 1 start horn, there was a seperate start for each corral, and there was a one minute interval between each corral, so that the last runners in each corral had a minute head start on the corral behind them. This is completely unnecessary, since because each corral is slower than the one before it, the runners in earlier crowds wouldn't need a head start.

It took us an entire hour to even reach the start line, meaning that the elite athletes were finishing up the half marathon as we were barely crossing the start line. Ridiculous. There was much muttering on both ends, the director at the start line saying "Please stop!" or "Be patient" to runners just wanting to start their race, and runners in later corrals offering up "F you!" as a response to the director's request for patience. The general consensus was, just let us run already!

My advice for anyone considering this race: Be generous in your finishing time prediction.

The Shuttle system to even get to the start line was pretty inefficient as well. They had us park at the AT&T center, which is actually pretty far away from the start. Long lines, and then traffic was horrible. We woke up at 4:30 AM and didn't get to the start area until almost 7. (Gun time 7:30). There was a slight delay as a result, so for the people who didn't get to the start area by gun time due to the shuttling woes, it was probably actually a good thing it took so long to get everyone across the start line.

Once we actually started running, (4 hrs. after we began our day!) The course itself was very nice-very flat and fast. There was almost no uphill whatsoever. San Antonio is a great, old city, and part of the course was along cobblestone streets and you got a feel for it's authentic, Hispanic roots. Course support wasn't as strong as White Rock or Austin, and they had Cytomax instead of your typical powerade or gatorade, and it was so sweet it was hard to drink. There was a free gel at mile 10, powerbar caramel, and that was really nice.

The bands were definitely the highlight. Tons of great music along the course- high energy and excited to be there. We ran past a high school marching band, as well.

Running by the Alamo, you had to run off course and wait in line for a photo, so that was a bit of a let down.

I ran with a friend, and there's always that unbeatable feeling crossing the finish line, and this was no exception. The medals were very nice- heavy and a good design including the Alamo. One of my favorite things about marathons are seeing all the different kinds of people. One of my favorites from this race was an older married couple who had matching outfits and held hands while they were running.

We also saw a guy running the whole thing barefoot, and lots of people dressed up in costumes. For some reason, a lot of the costumes involved poofy 50's poodle skirts. Who knows.

The finish area was pretty good, and HEB did a good job of offering up things like bananas and pretzels to finishers.

Overall though, I felt like things were too spread out (expo at the alamo dome, parking at the AT&T center, seperate finish and start areas- they had to truck gear back from the start line to the finish). At the end of the race, you had to wait about an hour to get on the shuttles again. And the line for the shuttles went up and down staircases- not something runners fresh off the marathon course can look forward to. Also, the goodies for a race as big as this (30,000 entries) were not too impressive. You got a shirt and a medal. That's about it.

I'm sticking to White Rock and Austin from now on.

I feel bad for people who had this as their first big race. I at least know that races can be so much better organized and fun.

Next race for me is the Cowtown in February. Can't wait :)