I tip my hat to the runners who showed up for the 2008 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon…read more Not only are they good runners, but evidently they are good drivers as well. When 30,000 people converge on a four block radius and all you get is a 4 car pileup near the freeway exit... then I call that a success! I know they say to get there early, but I think my plan of getting there late really worked. I got to ride the shuttle with only 2 other passengers, and I walked right into the porta potty, since all of the corrals had already pushed toward the starting line. Of course, there is a downside to arriving late. The only bananas that were left were quite green, and the peel was resisting my efforts, and winning. It was a little chilly, but I had the foresight to bring an oversized garbage bag (unused) to wear. From what I could tell, I was the only member of 'Team Hefty'. 13.1 miles of rubber hitting asphalt goodness. To the douchebag who hawked more than one huge loogie on the course... dude, while I'm impressed at your expectorant's effectiveness, next time, move a few feet to the edge and spew off the course. The best part about this marathon was the amount of support. I counted about 13 high school cheer or spirit teams whooping it up for us. Is it just me, or are high school girls more alluring than they were, say 20 or so years ago? Makes me wish I was back in high school. No, not as the creepy janitor guy who just happens to show up in the ladies room with a mop & bucket after you close the stall door, but as the questionably straight cheer mascot. Around mile 8, a fetching young lady approached me to say that she had been using me to keep pace with. That was quite a motivator, and I pushed myself even harder, until I remembered the scene in True Grit where John Wayne pushes his horse too hard, and it crashes to the ground in a glorious cloud of dust. I finished and passed a food table as I made my way to the exit. I grabbed two Dole Fruit & Yogurt cups. It wasnt until I opened it, that I realized that its gelatinous form would be hard to eat without a spoon... so I went for the toothpaste method. I'm sure it was all over my face. I got a cool colored medal. Cant wait to wear it to work tomorrow, shouting out: "Jeffey say - Go For Gold!" For those who don't know, this is the event that Yelp-mate Ivonne B was training me for. Some might call me a hero, for finishing 13.1, but I'm no hero. No, that title is reserved for my friend Phil and his wife Lissa... or Yelp's own Jenn X, who ran the full 26.2. They are the true heros of the marathon world. I'm just a squirrel trying to bust a nut. In the days preceeding the event, a handful of people said that this was going to be the greatest memorable occassion ever. Maybe I just dont get it, or maybe I'm just bitter. But as Homer would say... [sickly sweet] Oh, look at me! I feel so special being a part of this transcendental event! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane! [leaves the room, slamming the door] [pokes his head back in] Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic. [closes the door]

I returned for my second year to RNR AZ. This year, I opted to do the remix challenge with the 5K…read moreon Saturday and the half on Sunday. The expo was large again, and in the Phoenix convention center, right off the light rail. I opted to stay in Tempe because the 5K and Half Marathon start and finish lines were all there and my only trip to Phoenix would be for the expo. The 5K starts adjacent to Tempe Beach park and ends in Tempe Beach park. We walked there, but there was ample parking for those who drove. The course is quick and scenic and has the same finish as the half marathon, giving us a preview of the next day. Even with the short distance, participants get a tech tee, medal, one water stop and one band on course and refreshments and a finish concert. The half course was fairly similar to last year (a few tweaks due to construction, I think?) The half and 10K start together on the ASU campus (while the full marathon starts in Phoenix). Plenty of parking for those who drive, but beware of road closures. We caught an uber over and it was difficult to get there. PF Changs is no longer a sponsor as of 2016, so no horses at the start, or dragon running on the course :( The course wanders through Tempe into Scottsdale, and ending at Tempe Beach park. I had a bit of a rough race (recovering from an injury), but still had a positive experience. Bands on a pretty regular basis, well staffed hydration stops. The one frustrating thing is that on some sections of the course, we had the inner lanes of the road with traffic on the outermost lane on both sides. I understand this averts full road closures, but the problem is if you need to pull over and stretch, you need to watch for traffic. Huge finish area at Tempe Beach Park. The medals from 2015-2018 will connect to make a super medal, so I guess I'm in for the whole shebang now!

Did you know : The oldest documented turkey trot, a…read morestill-ongoing annual event in Buffalo, New York dates to 1896. This year I decided to create new traditions and participated in my first Turkey Trot! It is a family friendly race that features 5K & 10K scenic routes through downtown Phoenix with no out and backs. There is also a tot trot for the littlest members of your family and a 1 mile gobbler dash for those that want something shorter on Thanksgiving morning. The event was well organized and fun for the whole family. Looking forward to future trots!

I love this race. I've done the 10K for the past three years and it's a great day for running. This…read moreyear it began on time and they had two "water" stations with pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. I didn't try either cuz I didn't want to stop for it so no input on their taste. The course was similar in that the 10K is two 5K loops, so basically I had to pass the finish line and make a left to loop the course and finish, which was tough. The weather is always great during this time of year and the crowds are plentiful but not overwhelming. The one complaint is the post race food; they had water and yogurt which was fine but then they had trays of animal crackers and other cookies, it was weird. Wish they had bananas and oranges. Turkey trots take place all over the valley on Thanksgiving but I love running through Downtown Phoenix and I will continue to participate. Definitely recommend this race as it is family friendly, plenty of parking, and good vibes.

How did I not know about PHOESTIVUS!? My cousin asked to tag along over the weekend. We arrived a…read morelittle after 5 PM. Of course downtown was busy however we were able to find street side parking close by. This is the best place to get all your holiday shopping and to support all your local vendors/ artists! There's a mix of 170 vendors. We also enjoyed the food trucks! We snacked on popcorn, papusas, and tamales. Yummy! Everything we ate was very delicious. I'd come back again next holiday! Very festive and dog friendly.

Neat market, it takes up a whole block. All local valley vendors from Goodyear to Chandler. Food,…read morejewelry, vintage goods, soap, plants, art, and more. The Yeti wonders and you can take a photo with him, there's a hip Santa you can also take a photo with. You can air your grievances, and what you're grateful about. There was a glass making demonstration from a studio. There was live jazzy music which I loved. Overall, a nice holiday market. There is street parking, metered parking, and a parking garage nearby. It's dog friendly and there's vendors catering to dog products as well.

04/17/2026 Took my mom to watch the Phoenix Suns in the…read moreplayoffs play-in tournament. She had not been there since before the arena was remodeled. Every time I've gone there, getting through security was pretty quick, and the arena was clean. We were very early, so we grabbed food on the second floor in the food court. We both got the Courtside Classic pizza from Spinato's, as well as canned Dasani water. I'm glad the venue added a more affordable option for drinking water. The pizza was hot and fresh. The Team Shop had a lot of shirts on sale, and we bought a couple. It was fan appreciation night as well, so each seat had a free XL purple Suns T-shirt. The halftime show was an exciting duo that performed some dangerous moves! We left the game with about 5 minutes left on the shot clock to beat traffic (lesson learned from the last time I left at the end of the game and got stuck in the parking garage for a long time). On our walk out, one of the crew handed me a free T-shirt! It was one of the shirts they throw or shoot out of the cannon. We had a lot of fun, and I'm so glad my mom had a great experience here.

Was invited to watch the Suns-Warriors last In-Game NBA Matchup since I was in town and since the…read moreGolden State Warriors won the match over the LA Clippers 2 days prior. A relative is a Season-Ticket holder so I was invited to watch what would be my 2nd NBA game ever watched, LOL! Since I'm a Warriors fan, it was a dream come true. Plus a friend flew in from Hawaii just to see the match so we were both in Heaven!! I was so giddy when we arrived and in anticipation of the game. We had Valet parking and went thru a door and downstairs to the upscale & bougie Annexus Social Club. Big screens all over, free drinks and a nice buffet ranging from Sushi, Oysters, Prawns, Lobster, Crab Claws, Pastas, Charcuterie Boards, Desserts, Fruit/Salads, Popcorn & Snack area w/Canned drinks to bring to the arena. I was too excited to eat but did order some Rum & Cokes that I was able to bring to the floor. I was told to leave at the 2-minute mark before the half and before the game was over so we could hit the bathroom, bar, for more food and to get a table if not at the bar. At gametime, I found my seats and was on the 2nd row on the Warriors side(YAY!!!) below the basket! Dream come true and found myself just amazed, watching the team just feet away, saw myself on the Jumbotron and later on my friends and relatives said they saw me on TV during a closeup with the ref & Suns' player, LOL!! Seats were ample and we got free Suns t-shirts which were laid out on our seat-backs. Ambiance, food, experience even the bathrooms were well-kept. Valet parking helped vs. trying to get out of a large parking lot. Stellar experience and Jasmine, our bartender!!

We always have fun at Phoenix Fan Fusion, a/k/a comicon. I only go one day each year, and that's…read moreenough for me--it is exhausting. There are so many things to do. First, this place is a shoppers dream for someone who likes collectibles. The hall is huge and has stall after stall if tshirts, books, collectible figures, and art. There are samples of beer and liquor (with I.D. if course), and meet and greets with celebrities--this year John Cena was a biggie, but I personally was happy to see Like and Kirk from Gilmore Girls and Steve from the original Blues Clues. Elsewhere in the convention center was a Hall with some STEM exhibits, a cool insect exciting, a Lego display, and a medieval area with fencing. There are video games spread throughout, and a huge room for Pokemon Go. There are so many breakout sessions going on all day--anything from "Mr. Rodger's Art of Kindness" to "How to Create Cosplay Pieces with EV Foam" to Improv. Of course the panels with celebrities and comic book creators are super popular. Of course there is food available at Fan Fusion, but we choose to eat outside if the convention center. My favorite things (besides the plethora of Labubus) is the cosplay. If it's fun to see all the effort people have put in! Parking is, as you'd expect, difficult. It looked like many people, like us, took the light rail.

I've been going to Phoenix Fan Fusion (ComiCon before they changed names) for about the last 15…read moreyears, and the steady decline has been sad to see. This trip was likely my last. First, whatever genius had the bright idea to eliminate the possibility of purchasing a ticket the day of at the event, without a phone, should be immediately fired. My phone died about 30 minutes before getting there (not a battery charge issue, it literally bricked on me) so I went to the table and asked to purchase tickets on site. These bafoons have absolutely NO WAY to sell you a ticket using a credit card unless you have a phone. How is that even possible? Not a single hand held payment device anywhere to sell a ticket, in 2026? So my only option was to use a strangers phone to input my credit card, because they wouldn't accept cash. Absolutely mind blowing. Second, crowd management was a joke. No strucutre, no line management, just pure chaos. We got there around 1 PM, it's 100 degrees, and we had to wait probably 20 minutes just to get through the security entrance outside because they have NO IDEA how to run this event. Then as we proceeded to enter the west entrance, they turned us all away and said we have to go across the street to enter. These people have no idea how to run a venue this size. So completely disjointed and unorganized. You could barely walk the exhibitor hall it was so crowded and it was easily a 25 minute wait just to buy a bottle of water (which by the way cost $6.00). They were completely unprepared to serve the needs of the fans; sad and pathetic. And by the way, how about scheduling your event for a weekend when the Diamondbacks don't play at home, what a mess. Third, Fan Fusion used to be a place where the focus was on sharing and experiencing creativity and fandom with other fans. Now it's turned into nothing more than a money gouging cash grab, which is evident by how they only care about getting as many people in as possible, despite their crews not being able to handle that type of event. $250 for three of us, and that gets you nothing but through the door and maybe a chance to sit on one of the panels that most people could care less about. The on-site vendors and the celebrities with their signing prices gouge you. What they charge you just to get through the door is criminal. There was nothing pleasant about this experience. I use to look forward to this, but it's not what it use to be. The spirit of creativity and entertainment is no longer the essence of this event; it's turned into nothing more than an opportunity to exploit loyal fans.

Pros *Large venue with tons of space for courts and fans…read more Players have good serving space and high, unobstructed ceilings. *Well organized pools and brackets *Affordable nearby food and delivery options for the teams like Chick Fil-A and Zookz toasted sandwiches. Cons *Nets between many of the courts are too saggy (old?) so balls get past and interfere with other games. Very irritating for something so avoidable. *Way too expensive to watch your kid. Went to SCVA Tournament in Vegas with NO charge to watch so we took kids with us. We spent more tourism dollars there as a result. But at the Festival, expect to shell out $50 per person to watch your daughter/family member play and only little kids (5 and under) are free. It feels like blackmail.

I was hesitant about attending this volleyball tournament because there was a the SCVA Summer…read moreSoiree in Anaheim which was closer to my home. However, I am glad that we went to the tournament as it was fairly well organized and my daughter's team had a blast at the tournament. I will say that it was mainly because of the parents on the team, but I will give a little love to the tournament. The tournament has several divisions, so if you're team is so-so, expect to get your butts kicked at least the first two days. Scores and schedules are updated fairly quickly, and so you'll know your schedule right away if you have the AES Express app. By day three, the teams/pools will be much more competitive. That said, expect the last two days to be longer because the teams are more evenly matched. Thus, expect the matches to go three games. We were in the AM pools, so we were expected to finish by 1pm, but actually finished by 2pm. We made it to the finals of our division, so we finished by 3 pm on the last day. God forbid you are in the PM pool as you may not finish until past 8 or 9. If you are flying, I recommend you flying out on Monday if you can afford it, so that you won't stress about getting out of the convention center and to your flight on time. My main gripe about this tournament was the referees. They weren't bad, but many of them seemed to be in such a hurry. I guess referees are paid by matches completed and not by hour. We were in the 12's division and so the girls naturally make mistakes due to their age and maturity level. Some referees were so impatient and even bypassed making sure things were done correctly and let egregious mistakes made by the scorekeepers to go in order to "finish" on time. That effected a couple of our match results. One referee actually called a delay of game call on one of the girls from another team which stunned both the coach, the girl, and all the parents because honestly, I haven't seen that call made in like ten years--and these are 12 year old girls, so you would think they would get a little leniency. The other small complaint is the price of the souvenir shirts and clothing. I mean $60 for an ugly tie-dyed hoodie with the festival logo on it. A few of my daughter's teammates bought one, but my daughter isn't so sentimental, so she didn't care for it. Thank God! Speaking of Phoenix, the heat is oppressive, but it's cold inside the Convention Center. Everything in Phoenix is relatively easy to get to. What they call traffic in Phoenix is nothing in comparison to LA traffic. I didn't see much of Phoenix as we didn't venture far from our hotel once matches were done for the day. Although, I did appreciate the Southwestern and Hispanic themed artwork that was sprinkled across the city. We hit a Cheesecake Factory, CPK, Rustler's Roost, and a lot of fast food takeout for our dinner options. For me, this was the perfect storm for a great experience. Wonderful team spirit, wonderful parent participation, great coach, lots of playing time for all the girls, and well planned itinerary created for us. I don't know if I would have my daughter participate in this tournament again if given a choice because there is no guarantee that we will have the same conditions as this year. I, officially, can cross it off my bucket list though. Cheers!

As Jew in the Isreal army, I visited America for first time week last. Handsome young man named…read moreMatt helped me buy first kart but i end up buying six more. Good deal, he promise me play Mario Kart together if I do. i crash into small child and they go hospital but still fun. Next time I in America, I visit again.

Went here not knowing a lot about kart racing and not even from the area. But wanted to talk to…read moresomeone who was knowledgeable about it. The owner took a hr out of his day to answer any and all of my questions. Definitely recommend!!

The 11th annual D-backs Race Against Cancer event took place during Fall of 2024 at Chase Field. It…read morewas my first time running it. I had seen the Arizona Diamondbacks promote this event many times at games in the past and just never had the opportunity to run one of these. I am both a Diamondback fan and an avid runner and enjoyed combining both my loves. The D-backs Race Against Cancer is presented by Dignity Health Cancer Institute and starts and ends at Chase Field. The run is for all ages and is a lot of fun. The route for this 5K run/walk goes through downtown Phoenix. I really enjoyed running this 5K because it was on asphalt and there was no change in elevation. The run benefits Arizona non-profit organizations that provide screening, treatment and support for those dealing with all types of cancer. Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall was on hand to kick off the event. He is a cancer survivor and a strong advocate for cancer awareness. Included with registration is a finisher's medal and a free ticket to a Diamondback game.

This year is actually the second year I've participated in this event. The D-Backs Race Against…read moreCancer is actually a pair of events taking place on an early Sunday morning (typically in early April). First there's a 5k run that traverses much of southern Downtown Phoenix, followed by a 1k family walk that circles the sports and entertainment district (aka the Legends District). The event starts and ends at Chase Field with race participants having the ability to finish their morning by taking a leisurely stroll around the warning track on the field at Chase. The D-Backs team shop is also open for the event and there are a number of vendors and cancer non-profits that station themselves along 4th Street. The event was originally started by Diamondbacks General Manager Derrick Hall after he contracted prostate cancer. Hall's wife has also battled breast cancer. So the D-Backs partnered with the Dignity Health and the University of Arizona Cancer to put on this annual event. Proceeds from the event go both to the title sponsors as well as other non-profit cancer organizations including the American Cancer Society, the American Liver Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the American Lung Association, and others. Registration for the 5k is $40/person and the 1k is $20/person. With registration, you'll get an event t-shirt, a voucher for a D-Backs game ticket, and a drawstring bag with random goodies inside. At the event there are a few food vendors including Dunkin Donuts (odd I know) and also free bananas, oranges, Gatorades, and bottled waters for the participants. The event has plenty of restrooms as well as other random vendors giving out free knick knacks to racers at the finish line. One knock I will give this is event is that its very poorly advertised. The event still gets surprisingly good turnout even though the D-Backs and their sponsors do very little to promote the event. But I'd like to see the D-Backs really get the word out about this event to the community. They don't advertise it in the local newspapers or news stations, they don't advertise the event at all on social media, and from what I can tell Chase Field itself does little to promote it. I gotta think they could make this a blockbuster event that could raise a lot of money for these non-profit groups if they'd only put a little effort into promoting it. Yeah, it would get pretty crowded down there if they did. But hey its for a good cause everyone can get behind, so why not? In any event, my brother, two nephews and I had a fun time doing the family walk again this year and will undoubtedly do it again next year. Hopefully the D-Backs can muster even more participation in this event with a little more effort from their marketing department. Cancer sucks, so let's get more people to show up and help kick cancer's ass.

I love the the opportunity granted to local artists. The event runs from 1st street to 7th street…read more It's a fun way to get your steps in! The vendors are all along the main road of Roosevelt, as well as the side roads. There's food music, beverage, art, and more! I love it. Parking can be a pain, so I advise you to ride share or expect to pay for parking.

Very crowded with a lot of kids. Hard to see any booths. Many of the shops were not open or no…read morelonger there. The art museum was nice but won't return to the streets portion again. Unfortunate because it used to be so filled with different artist and unique people.

We've been to Slick City in Chandler a couple times now and it's tons of fun. We even decided to…read morehave our daughter's birthday there because it was so fun the first time we went. It's something somewhat new and different. The staff were friendly and the kids had a blast. My daughter and her friends, and even myself really enjoyed the straight drop slide that sends you flying. The place is clean (newer so it should be) and cozy and overall just fun.

Soooooo expensive but wow it was fun! Staff could be nicer and more welcoming. The slides were…read moregreat, wide selection and pretty safe. She didn't know about the tummy sliding thing but once the first one happened then the day started! $50 for both of us for 90 mins