What is Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona?
The Rock ‘n’ Roll series — running events with a band at every mile and a concert at the finish — came to the Valley in 2004 as the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon, and its first edition drew nearly 24,000 finishers on a course that threaded Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. Two decades later the full marathon is gone (retired after 2023), but the half marathon that replaced it as the flagship keeps the event’s most scenic stretch: north from Tempe into Old Town Scottsdale, then south along the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt, the car-free park path that runs the length of the city’s east side.
It’s a fast course — flat, cool, and famous for it. Haile Gebrselassie ran a 58:55 half here in 2006, then the fastest ever recorded, and the course records of 1:02:23 and 1:09:43 have stood for a decade; Scottsdale’s own Milo Greder equaled the men’s mark to win in 2026. Behind the elites come thousands of runners and walkers with four hours to finish and a live band every mile to help.
For Scottsdale, the race is a Sunday-morning takeover: Scottsdale Road closed through Old Town, the Greenbelt lined with spectators, and the start of a January that will fill with Car Week and the Phoenix Open within weeks.
Running it, watching it
The course, from a Scottsdale point of view. The half starts in Tempe near Mill Avenue, heads north into Old Town, turns onto the Greenbelt at Indian Bend Wash, and runs the shaded park path south past the lakes and golf course before crossing Papago Park back to the finish at Tempe Beach Park. The Old Town stretch on Scottsdale Road is the course’s loudest crowd; the Greenbelt is its prettiest mile.
If you’re running: the January start is cold — mid-40s — and the finish warm; layers you can discard to the charity bins. The course rewards even pacing; the Greenbelt’s gentle grade and Papago’s small rise are the only terrain. Expo and packet pickup are Saturday in Tempe. Register early — tiers step up through the fall.
If you’re spectating: skip the start and go to the Greenbelt. Park at Chaparral or Eldorado, walk to the path, and you’ll have runners within arm’s reach for as long as you like; a bike lets you leapfrog the field to Old Town and back. Then ride the light rail or drive to Tempe Beach Park for the finish-line concert.
Practical: Old Town road closures run Sunday morning until roughly midday; Scottsdale Road, parts of Indian School, and the Greenbelt crossings are affected. The Old Town Farmers Market still runs Saturday — a good carb stop.
From marathon boom to half-marathon weekend
Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona arrived at the height of the big-city marathon boom, when the series (born in San Diego in 1998) was expanding across the country with a formula of entertainment, charity fundraising, and enormous fields. The Valley’s version was designed for speed and volume: a point-to-point course across three cities, a January date that guaranteed cool mornings, and sponsorship from Scottsdale-based P.F. Chang’s. The first race in 2004 was the largest inaugural marathon in U.S. history at the time, and the men’s marathon record of 2:10:33 set that morning has never been beaten.
The 2006 edition made the course legendary. Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian great, ran the second half of the marathon course as a stand-alone half marathon and clocked 58:55 — a world best that stood for years — on the flats through Scottsdale and Tempe. Deena Kastor’s 1:09:43 in 2010 and Scott Bauhs’s 1:02:23 in 2016 set the half records that still define the event; 2010 also marked its participation peak above 32,000.
The decline of the full marathon followed a national pattern: shorter distances grew, the 26.2 shrank, and after the pandemic cancelled 2021 the organizers retired the marathon following 2023. The half is now the main event, and the 2026 race — won by Greder, a Scottsdale native, in a time that matched the course record — suggested it still draws serious speed.
Why the Greenbelt
The Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt is the city’s most consequential piece of planning — an eleven-mile flood channel turned continuous park in the 1970s instead of the concrete ditch the Army Corps proposed. A half marathon running its path is the best advertisement the greenbelt gets: thousands of runners and their families discovering that Scottsdale has a car-free green spine, on a January morning when it looks its best. The race borrowed the city for its scenery; the city gets a mile of its best idea shown to a national field.