SAN ANTONIO – Sunday was the inaugural San Antonio Marathon and Half Marathon, replacing the former Rock and Roll Marathon.
We wanted to know what runners think about the new race and the route. Our Phil Sterling went out to the course to find out.
Over 18,000 runners crossed the finish line. We spoke with some of them who say they liked the new route, which included running through the pearl for the first time.
The City of San Antonio announced it was taking over the marathon last year, partnering with nonprofit San Antonio Sports. The organization says the change will help make the city the center of the running world during the first week of December.
The new layout serves as a qualifying course for the Boston Marathon. A major draw for runners.
Runners tell us they’re onboard with all the changes, especially now that it’s a qualifier marathon. Organizers say that was the goal.
“Now we’re doing it, and I’m excited to make this a tradition,” said runner Michael Lahoud. “And I told some friends. We were doing a sip and see yesterday, so they could all meet a gutter. As long as I got kneecaps, as long as I got legs, I’m running. So now I want to make this a tradition.”
All of these pieces fall into the city’s overall goal, to make San Antonio – in the beginning of December – the running destination of the country.
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A few of us here got the chance to run in the marathon. Mandy Noell ran the half marathon. Jonathan Martinez ran the full marathon and is probably limping around his house recovering right now. And our digital content producer Amanda Moreno also ran the full marathon.