I did the inaugural Ironman Arizona in April and I thought the race was awesome. I stayed at the host hotel (Tempe Mission Palms). This hotel is only about a block and a half from the transition area and the expo. I found this to be very convenient.

The course was great also. The swim was in Tempe Town Lake. It was a deep-water start and the course was wide enough that I found it to be less crowded than most half IMs I have done. The bike course was 3 loops through Tempe. A lot of people complained about this but I actually liked it. The crowds in Tempe were pretty big so it was nice to go through there so many times. This also made the race very spectator friendly. The wind was really blowing but this is not a normal occurrence so next year the bike course should be very fast. The run was mostly flat and large parts of it were on trails.

I am already signed up to do this race again next year. I would highly recommend this race to anyone looking to do his or her first IM and anyone looking to PR at that distance.