This was my first marathon, I ran it in preparation for the Dopey Challenge in January 2020. I read about the majority of the race being downhill, so I trained for that, however, no amount of training could have prepared me for the first mile. It was very steep and gravity forced my into a pace that was not healthy. Combine that with the crested road and my knee was on fire by the 3rd mile. I had completed a 20 training run the weekend before and had no knee pain whatsoever. After the first mile, the pain gradually built to the point that I could no longer run by mile 18, so I walked the last 8 miles. The out and back at the Biosphere Road was very hilly and difficult. After that, it was all downhill and I didn't think the hill at mile 24 was that bad.

I don't believe that there was an aid station on the entire course. I needed a band aid for a toenail issue and after asking at 5 different water stations, one of the volunteers happened to have one. There were water stations almost every mile, so that was a good feature given the normally dry air in Arizona.

The expo was small and could have probably fit in my living room.

Overall, the race profile was probably not right for my level of experience. I don't believe the steep hill at the beginning was necessary and could be easily changed by starting further down the road and making up the distance on Biosphere Rd or going down 1 additional block at the end of the race.