Josh Ross's Staging Area

The organizers put on a great show! The swag was average and although the medal was a little small for both the half and full marathons they were nicely designed and very blingy! There was an army of police and volunteers covering the full marathon. I never felt unsafe nor worried about my wife’s safety. Plenty of nutrition was provided along the course as well. The terrain itself was all pavement and concrete with just a very small section of smooth gravel/dirt. The concrete and pavement though changed slightly at many interfaces. It made for sore knees for my wife and my ankles and feet ached. No tripping hazards just felt hard on the joints. This could also be due to thus being my first marathon in 20 years! The bands were all awesome! They really motivated me and sounded good and loud! My wife’s only complaint other than knees for her half marathon was waiting and trying to get through the water stops, due to congestion. I didn’t have this problem on the full. Overall it was a fun town to race in but I probably wouldn’t try to PR here. The full had a lot of turn-arounds a too.

This is my second time running the Sandia Half. Last year was good but this year it was even better considering production, safety, swag, and finish nutrition! I thoroughly enjoyed the downhill race and the challenge of pacing. This one is a little tricky to pace due to the rolling hills with a few bigger hills from miles 5.5-11 (half). In my opinion this is not a course you would shoot for negative splits but instead try to bank some early fast pacing through the steeper downhill sections which I did.

This is an out and back course, for the 1/4 marathon anyway. It wasn’t overly populated, but the logistics in the parking lot (start and finish) felt a little cramped. They did offer hot cocoa at the end, which was nice! My wife was rather enamored of the Rudolph socks you get in your swag bag!

I ran the half marathon which basically starts at the halfway point for the full. This is my first half marathon in 8-10 years with nothing longer than a 10k in that time. I thought the course was easy and fast! There was only one significant hill at about the ten mile mark of the half course. I didn’t think it was bad at all but I do frequent hill training in my day to day running.
The food at the end could have been more varied, the swag was ok but I would prefer synthetic shirts, and a line did develop 10-15 minutes before the start. I think for an inaugural race that things were ok though overall, and plan to give it another go next year with doing the full marathon.
The temp was around 50 degrees and since my wife and I took the first bus up we froze for over an hour. Should have brought the free blankets that came in the swag bag.
It will be colder at the full marathon starting point.
I live in Albuquerque and am thankful to have this opportunity so close! My finish time was blistering fast! This is a fast course with an overall 1400 foot elevation drop in just the half!!