Not only was this my first marathon but it is one of my most favorite races I've ever ran. The weather was perfect, the scenes were the best since you got to see nearly every highlight of Philadelphia which included the view of the waterfront, zoo, South Street, Center City, and Manayunk. The crowds were the best I had ever seen as well! From what I heard, this was a records for having as many spectators that this race has ever had! The medal was beautiful and not only was it the liberty bell but it was too! I'd highly recommend this race to anyone looking to run their first marathon.

Perfect weather and it was on Halloween which I know wasn't everyone's favorite, especially because of the date change but I loved it! I didn't wear a costume but looking at everyone creativity on what they wore was fantastic. I even made PR at this race! This was the 4th year in a row that I ran this one and will be returning again for 2016.

Two thumbs down. I did this race 2 years in a row which was in 2014 and 2015. I usually volunteer for novelty runs since they give free entries for those who put in the required time and did for this one. The guy who was in charge (coordinator) was no help at all like he was supposed to be. He took off several times and would be gone for long periods of time. He wasn't there when we'd need his help the most such as a computer malfunction when we needed to check someone in or if a runner would have a question that we could not answer. The day of the race was no better. It very hot out on race morning and as any race should have, there were absolutely no water stations on the course! The course wasn't well coordinated since everyone got confused to which directions to go in at some point. What worse though is that there was no water being given at the finish line! Instead, one of their sponsors, Naked Juice, were giving out free samples which was just about it. No one there was giving out free bottles of water which is always supposed to happen at any race. Eventually, water was brought in but it was in this giant dirty tank and you had to use a hose to get it out. It didn't taste so good and it was warm! Lastly, they had a stage and a DJ which is supposed to have the crowd continue having fun by throwing color packets, free stuff being thrown, dancing and everyone was hyped up for these "color canons" that were supposed to blast colors but they failed twice and weren't as big as they were advertised! This is one novelty race that I will not be doing again.