I'd never heard about this race until I started researching races that would occur the weekend we were to be in Boston. Once I saw the great reviews on BibRave, I knew I wanted to run in it.

First, the course is about as flat as you want it to be. There are some elevation changes along the course, but they are minimal. Like others have mentioned, the start is a little congested (the race is divided in three waves and you select where you will start based on pace signs) but no more so than other races I've run in the past.

The course is beautiful, it starts outside the Seaport Hotel and then makes its way along the river, past the Boston Common, over the Harvard bridge, then along the river to a turnaround, back past MIT and to another turnaround and back across the Harvard bridge before making its way back to the start. At times I felt (or told myself) I was just doing a fun run instead of trying to break a certain time for the first time.

The race support is great and the race medal and food and drink afterward are as well. One thing that's unique about this medal is you get to select a coin representing police, fire or first responders that you magnetically attach to your medal. The race start included touching remembrances of people who paid the ultimate sacrifice while on duty.

One element that hasn't been mentioned in the reviews is the exceptional kids run. It's a free run the morning before the race at the expo, sponsored by the Boston police and the City of Boston Credit Union. Basically you sign a waiver for your kids and they receive a T-shirt and then run in waves depending on how old they are. The distance is about a 50m dash (longer for older kids) on an upper level above the expo floor.

What was incredibly nice about this was the fact that Boston police officers presented each child with a medal -- and it was a real medal (a small badge), not a rubberized version of a medal or a ribbon as I've seen in past kids runs. The Boston police also had an outreach van where they gave out ice cream to the children afterward. It all was very impressive and stood out in my mind even more than the great race that I would run the next day. My 2-year-old daughter wore her race shirt for two days straight during our vacation as testament to how proud she was to have participated in this event.

I was a little concerned about security and what I would be allowed to bring with me on race day -- I usually have a pouch for my phone and a gel, but it was fine to carry on race day. I don't think they would let you through with a handbag or backpack, though.

We stayed at a hotel 1.3 miles away, which gave me a nice warmup before the race. I'd read the previous posts about parking, train issues so it was nice to navigate there on my own.

The t-shirt, as other posters mentioned, was a regular cotton/poly T-shirt instead of a technical shirt. The expo was on the small to medium size but it was nice to be able to buy past shirts, or even shorts (stitched with a logo of the Boston Police Runners Club) at a nice discount. They had activity centers and bouncy houses for children.