I live in AZ and I'm deciding on my first marathon to run at the end of the year. Both Phx and Tucson marathons have huge elevation drops (1000ft and 2000ft). It feels like cheating to run a marathon with such a high elevation drop, but it looks like it can still qualify for boston.
Why not? Will you somehow feel better about yourself if you ran a harder one and still BQ'd? You would be kicking yourself if you did that and missed by a couple minutes. Only reason not to run those is calendar timing or if you don't have enough time to prep your quads for a thrashing if you go too hard.
Btw, Phoenix 100% qualifies for Boston...its not a question.
The PHX marathon is the most competitive race in Arizona. It just is. If you don't want to fly somewhere to compete with lots of good runners, that's your top local race. Rock and roll used to be more competitive, but it has been surpassed.
St George is the same way. Yeah it's a cheat race. Yeah it's probably 5 minutes faster than Boston. But it's by far the most competitive race in Utah, and likely the most competitive race in the southwest. People that have talent and train seriously show up to that race in big numbers.
I've done PHX. I've done St George. I've done Chicago. I've done Boston. It was a blast competing in all of them. The downhill courses are absolutely faster if you're tactical and smart about them. But if you screw them up, they are much slower. Early mistakes will destroy you on those downhill races. Your quads will completely blow up.