Race 09-02 PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon (Phoenix)

I had wanted to run the Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix for several years now. I think I first heard about it from Chuck, back when we used to race together in Florida. I heard good things from other people as well. So I took a 3 day weekend trip to Phoenix for the race.

I arrived at Sky Harbor in the early afternoon after flying on United for the first and last time. I was happy though that the rental car company sped people right through the line and gave me a free upgrade from the cheapest car possible to a Mustang.

Immediately after leaving the airport I went to the expo downtown where Erika and I met Chuck and a couple of his friends. We hung around at the expo for a while. The expo was the best one I had ever been to. There were a ton of vendors - many giving free food which was excellent after flying. I already knew that PF Chang's was the main sponsor, but the sponsors names and logos were not plastered everywhere. It didn't have the commercial feel that the big SF races have. After that we spent some time downtown although it wasn't much of a happening place.

The next day I slept in a little too late butin the afternoon Erika and I went north to Sedona. We stopped at Montezuma's castle on the way.


We hiked up Bell Rock just before sunset. It wasn't difficult and I could have done more as there were many nice places to go, but I was careful not to spend too much energy walking around. I would have liked to spend more time there, maybe I will go back another time to do some hiking. After a little shopping in downtown Sedona we went to Jerry's house (Chuck's brother who I had never met) for a spaghetti dinner. I was late, as usual.




The day of the marathon I got up early checked out of the hotel and drove to the race. The hotel was close and I parked on a city street a few blocks away. It was very easy to get to.

I found Chuck at the starting line so we started together and ran together for a couple miles. I was trying for 2:55 and I think he was going for sub-3 so I pulled away a little after a mile or so. I got my mile pace down under 6:30 which made me perfectly happy but I did not expect to sustain it forever.

The Phoenix streets are designed on a grid so I had a very good idea where I was the whole time. I ran by the street the hotel was on, and thee was a supermarket right there that I wished I had found a couple days ago. The race went well until I got to mile 8 where felt I needed to take a restroom break. I finally found one in the 10th mile which cost me almost 2 minutes...When I came out within a quarter mile I caught up to and went by Chuck again. I was holding low 6:40 pace which crept up to 7:00 but I was happy enough. Things went well until around mile 16 again when I decided to take another break. This time I waited until mile 19 and spent an extra 3 minutes at that mile marker. After that I held 7:00-7:30 the rest of the way. And right before the 25 mile sign - you guessed it - I caught up to Chuck again. He was doing pretty well as was I. I finished last 1.2 in 8:21, passing at least a dozen people. My final time of 3:04 wasn't what I hoped for but good enough to go to Boston in April.

The race wasn't as scenic as I was expecting but it was still fun. There were around 25 bands playing along the course - mostly Rock and Roll. My favorite was the Elvis impersonator who was fun to hear around mile 22. There were also a lot of cheerleaders there which I had never really seen at a race before. Although the streets weren't packed it was nice to have someone cheering there I guess.

The post race food was excellent. I had a couple Dole fruit cups, about 4 popsicles, among other things, some fruit, energy bars, etc. I drank some Cytomax during the race even though I don't like it, but I certainly didn't want any after I was done. The post race gathering was in Sun Angel Stadium at ASU.

After the race we went to Jerry's house again and he generously lent his shower to anyone who ran. We made it there in time to see the end of the NFC Championship game, which the Cardinals won. The house full of 20 or so people erupted at the end of the game. Ironically the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl in Tampa, and the game is being played at the stadium across the street (literally) from where I used to live. Shortly after I had to leave to catch a plane home. The flight back was uneventful. I made it back home around midnight so I went to bed around the same time I normally do.

I would like to do the race again, but while I was there I found out about the Sedona marathon which is in February. So if I go back I would probably run Sedona to try something different.