Rock N Roll Marathon Series of Races

[mickeysgal]

Has anyone done these? We are new to 1/2 marathons - we are hooked on the Disney ones but would like to try others. We're in our early 50's. Is this series primarily for the younger set? Will we be sort of out of place? We're looking at the Savannah run and possibly the Las Vegas one in December. Would LOVE the thought of the Dublin innaugural. Please let me know your thoughts on this race series. Did you enjoy it?

 

[Qltrgrl2]

My daughter and I ran the Rock and Roll half relay in Virginia Beach over Labor Day Weekend. We loved the Expo, race itself and the whole experience. This was our first non Disney half marathon. We wrote several posts on blog so you could check that out for more information. Do sign up for one....they are fun!

 

[minniebeth]

I have friends that do them all over, in fact a few of them are doing the RnR 1/2 in Philadelphia today. DH's boss and some peers are doing the RnR 1/2 in Las Vegas and wanted DH to do it with them, but the weekend doesn't work out for us. We are young enough to do the races, but not exactly what you would consider the "young" crowd. Of course, it's all relative.
I say go for it!

...and the Dublin race does look cool!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

...Is this series primarily for the younger set? Will we be sort of out of place? We're looking at the Savannah run and possibly the Las Vegas one in December. Would LOVE the thought of the Dublin innaugural. Please let me know your thoughts on this race series. Did you enjoy it?

I think you will enjoy the RnR series. The events have a 4 hr time limit for half participants and that is a very generous time.

The events draw participants of all ages. The RnR events try to have various musicians (volunteers) staged along the course so you will enjoy a variety of music. Not everyone enjoys all of the music styles. To me it is interesting.

I look forward to reading about how you enjoyed your events. I am sure you will find the fun!

 

[FFigawi]

Has anyone done these? We are new to 1/2 marathons - we are hooked on the Disney ones but would like to try others. We're in our early 50's. Is this series primarily for the younger set? Will we be sort of out of place? We're looking at the Savannah run and possibly the Las Vegas one in December. Would LOVE the thought of the Dublin innaugural. Please let me know your thoughts on this race series. Did you enjoy it?

They're generally well run races with nice expos, plenty of on-course support, and good medals and shirts to go home with. Like Disney, though, they seem to have a hard time getting things right the first time around. I ran the inaugural Madrid race this spring, and while the course was great, the organization for the start and finish left a lot to be desired.

 

[mickeysgal]

I've heard good things about them in general. I guess my main concern is our age and that these runs are really for the younger set - those in their
20's-40's. I guess just recently turning 50 is doing a number on my head. We're not trying to act 25 anymore, just want to run to get more healthy and thought this would be a nice series to try.

 

[mickeysgal]

They're generally well run races with nice expos, plenty of on-course support, and good medals and shirts to go home with. Like Disney, though, they seem to have a hard time getting things right the first time around. I ran the inaugural Madrid race this spring, and while the course was great, the organization for the start and finish left a lot to be desired.

How wonderful is that! Did you extend the trip to see other places?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I tried my first Rock and Roll in Chicago this year and it was fantastic. The Expo was like trick-or-treating. My bag was full by the end! I am definitely doing the Savannah one because it was highly recommended and Dublin will be my first International race. I had no gripes at all with Chicago, found it to be even more fun than Disney in some ways, and it was definitely for all ages.

Look up results for prior year races and you will see that there are plenty of people in a variety of age groups. I really do think that their demographic is similar to Disney.

 

[johde]

Like Disney, though, they seem to have a hard time getting things right the first time around. I ran the inaugural Madrid race this spring, and while the course was great, the organization for the start and finish left a lot to be desired.

I've heard that before and I hate to hear it because I signed up for the Inagural Cleveland Half Marathon Oct 5th 2013

 

[kim3339]

You might want to wait a year on the Vegas one to see how this year goes. Last year was really bad ~ running out of water, it taking a long time to get out of the finish shoot. I know some people who ran it and said it was just horrible. Some problems were the runners ~ a night run and spending the day in Vegas... but b/w what I heard and read on FB it wasn't good. The races are fun though ~ I've done Providence, San Diego, San Jose and New Orleans. They're a lot of fun. Similar to the Disney environment ~ music and groups along the course and friendly runners.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

You might want to wait a year on the Vegas one to see how this year goes. Last year was really bad ~ running out of water, it taking a long time to get out of the finish shoot. I know some people who ran it and said it was just horrible. Some problems were the runners ~ a night run and spending the day in Vegas... but b/w what I heard and read on FB it wasn't good. The races are fun though ~ I've done Providence, San Diego, San Jose and New Orleans. They're a lot of fun. Similar to the Disney environment ~ music and groups along the course and friendly runners.

I think Las Vegas will be a lot better this year. They got so much flack from the problems that race had that they can't afford to have anything go wrong this time. But, just in case, I know many people who are making their spectators bring water and gatorade for certain parts of the race. Running out of that for one stop is okay, but more than that, unacceptable. I volunteered at a race that didn't have any water or gatorade for the last six miles. The water stations were just wasting water. It was horrible!

 

[Qltrgrl2]

I've heard good things about them in general. I guess my main concern is our age and that these runs are really for the younger set - those in their
20's-40's. I guess just recently turning 50 is doing a number on my head. We're not trying to act 25 anymore, just want to run to get more healthy and thought this would be a nice series to try.

Do not worry about your age....I am 58 years old and did not feel like the eldest at the race. Of course at most races I am on the older side, but that has never bothered me. It makes it easier to win your age group!

 

[BikeFan]

My daughter and I ran the Rock and Roll half relay in Virginia Beach over Labor Day Weekend. We loved the Expo, race itself and the whole experience. This was our first non Disney half marathon. We wrote several posts on blog so you could check that out for more information. Do sign up for one....they are fun!

Did this race as well with my son, and the logistics/support were top-notch. I'd do this race again except for the brutal humidity (which wasn't really the organizers' fault - too much! ).

 

[FFigawi]

How wonderful is that! Did you extend the trip to see other places?

No, I didn't get anywhere else, though I can't complain about five days in Madrid. It's a fabulous city, tons of really interesting and fun things to see and do.

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

I heard the horror stories about RNR Vegas last year, but I have to say that all of my experiences with RNR, even the inaugural races, have been positive. I did the inaugural Chicago, Vegas (before it was a night race), and Seattle in 2010, the inaugural Dallas and Philadelphia in 2011, and the inaugural Portland this year. Sorry, I don't mean that to sound like I'm bragging but just that I have a lot of experience with RNR races.

There are going to a few annoyances that you'd find at any large event like traffic issues and long port-a-potty lines, but overall I think it's well run. I love wandering around the Expos and collecting free stuff. And there never seem to be any lines for packet pickup or bag check. Generally I think they try to make the courses pretty flat, and it's well marked and well supported.

Also, my boyfriend's mom is in her 50s and she's walked several of the RNR races and loves them too. I would recommend trying a RNR event.

 

[KristinU]

I've done two RnR events (Philly and DC) and I'm about to do a third this Sunday (Montreal.) DC was the inagural year and it was just fine. We did have a transportation challenge to the start (metro station was packed and very few cabs available...and when we snagged a cab of course all the streets were closed for the course...but we made it!) I noticed that next year it starts by the mall so that should help. So yeah, I guess that they'll have some logistical bugs to work out in the first year, but not enough to turn me away. If I'm not mistaken, Montreal is the inagural year (and we're planning on hopping on the metro WAY early...learned from DC!)

They're fun events, well done, and the expos are fantastic. And if you're a medal junkie, the more RnR events you do in a calendar year the more medals you get.

And Mickey's gal - thanks for including 40's in your "younger set" comment...that makes my day! And just to echo others' comments, I saw all ages at both races - no worries!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Has anybody here done the Dallas RNR half? What did you think?

 

[poohbear8]

For those who have done them, do you see a good amount of walk/runners? I am still new to running. I have been training for the TOT next week and ran a local 10k in July. There were very few walk/runners and I felt very intimidated with everyone zipping by me. I found the runners in this area are just that, "runners"!

I have considered doing the DC one next year. VA Beach was too close to school starting for me to make it this year.

 

[Goofierunner]

I've done two: Seattle and Chicago. There are all kinds of people participating. Runners, walkers, run/walkers. All ages, all shapes and sizes. As others have said, it's a pretty smooth operation. Lots of support along the way. I've also volunteered at the expo at Seattle checking the runners in and giving out numbers and that was a lot of fun.

 

[poohbear8]

I've done two: Seattle and Chicago. There are all kinds of people participating. Runners, walkers, run/walkers. All ages, all shapes and sizes. As others have said, it's a pretty smooth operation. Lots of support along the way. I've also volunteered at the expo at Seattle checking the runners in and giving out numbers and that was a lot of fun.

Thanks for the info! I will probably do the DC one in March.