As a Philly native I admit to being a bit biased but I really believe the city does show tremendous support for all of its races. I've done the BSR three times but this was my first half marathon and I will be back!

I don't do expos (appreciate the option to have bib etc. mailed to me!) so I can't comment on that. We stayed on 17th street @ Walnut and it was easy to walk up to the start although the lines etc. weren't as well marked as they might have been. Found my corral and the pacers pretty easily though.

I had read that they changed the course this year to stay in town more and less in the park and I really enjoyed all the landmarks we passed and being in town meant lots of spectators, which keeps my energy up for sure. It also made the course a bit flatter generally speaking but there were still those hills toward the latter part of the race.

I liked my shirt and my medal, and getting back out after the race was pretty seamless. I am not certain if this is the first year the half wasn't run the same day as the full but I liked being able to run Saturday morning as that left a bit more time to enjoy the city itself. Plenty of places to have post race carbs!!

I would recommend this race to a friend and do plan on coming back and seeing if I can finally break that 2 hour mark (I came sooooo close!!).