My top 3 favorites of the race:
1) Chocolate milk at the finish line.
2) Great medal theme, shape of the Liberty Bell
3) Very open course, little congestion.

My top 3 least favorites:
1) The race shirt is neon (yellow or green) which is a little much for me.
2) Next time around I'd look for a hotel closer to the start/finish rather than the expo. The mile and half walk back sweaty wasn't fun.
3) I'm not a big Gatorade fan, I'd love for more races to pick up other hydration products.

More detailed thoughts on the expo, start, finish, and course follow.

Expo. I arrived at the expo around 2:00 on Saturday (last day of expo). There weren’t any lines to pick-up my bib or swag bag. The expo was pretty similar to other RNR events I’ve been to with the larger display for the Brooks race gear and then a large number of vendors throughout.

Race Start. I’m not sure the exact number of corrals, but I’m sure it exceeded 25, maybe 30. I was fortunate to have a Corral 4 placement. Like I mentioned before I did six miles prior to the race start but got back about 10 – 15 minutes before the start. It was super easy to get into the corrals. There were entrances on each side about every two to three “corrals”. They had pacers throughout and it was very easy to spot them in the corral. With the corral 6 start I was out probably within five minutes of the gun start. I didn’t venture over to the gear check area. It was located between the start and finish lines (not the same). But seemed easy to access as it was just behind the start corrals.

Course. I was pleasantly surprised to find the course was very open right out of the start. I was taking it easy so I moved immediately to the right to allow the PR chasers room. I did some minor zigzagging but found that those who started early and were walking kept to the right. The course did a loop toward one end of town and then came back by near the start. We passed some of the later corrals heading out the other side. The course ventured back along the way I had run earlier along the river. There were only a couple hills, nothing I would consider extreme (however I now train in Nashville). The one thing I thought was a little weird was a brief out and back which then required a U-Turn. Fortunately, the course was not crowded so even this part was easy to maneuver. Most hydration stops had both Gatorade and water. There was one station which also had gels. The bands along the course were all upbeat, including one drum line which was awesome. There were also three (that I recall) cheer stations manned by local cheerleading squads. All three were fantastic, my favorite was the group who created a cheer for the run. I wound up at 13.25, but as I mentioned I did some zigzagging and think my watch may have picked up some extra when we were running through the downtown area with taller buildings.

Finish line. There was chocolate milk. This may be the most important thing to me. You can keep the Gatorade but I need my chocolate milk. I think most RNR races now have this at the finish which just rocks. Other goodies included Power Bars, baked chips, bananas, bottled water, bottled Gatorade, and cold towels. This year’s finishers medal featured the Liberty Bell. Which of course I took with me when I went to visit. I was drenched and since I hadn’t brought any gear, I headed back to my hotel and passed on the post-race festivities.

See my full weekend recap on my blog -- https://jessicarunsblog.wordpress.com/race-weekend-recaps/rock-roll-philadelphia/

Link to this review