I had never been to Philadelphia so when given the opportunity to run Rock and Roll Philadelphia, I jumped at the chance. This year also just happened to be the 40th year of the half marathon and the first year they had a remix weekend. If you don't know what the remix weekend is, it is where you can run a 5k on Saturday and do the half marathon on Sunday. For you efforts, you end up with 3 medals for the weekend. This race brought several star athletes, including Galen Rupp, the olympic bronze medalist from this past year's Olympics. The course is absolutely beautiful, the first 4-5 miles takes you through downtown Philly pass the famous LOVE monument and lots of museums. After going through downtown, the route takes you on Kelly Drive, which is also known as boathouse row. The stretch of course takes you by multi-million dollar boat houses, and along side Schuykill River. The river is where the city colleges practice and store their row boats for competition. After about the mile 8, you take a bridge over Schuykill river before heading back down the opposite side of the river. During this stretch you even run pass the Philadelphia Zoo. The end is a slight incline before finishing directly in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Finisher Medal was great and you can even snap a picture of the Rocky statue. I will keep it simply, YOU HAVE TO RUN THIS RACE. While you are there, make sure you enjoy a cheesesteak and take a trip to Reading Terminal for some delicious desserts.