I have done this marathon twice before, somewhat recreationally, but the 2013 race was the first one I had truly trained for. It is a great race for anyone wanting to do his/her first marathon because there is a crowd cheering for you throughout all 26.2 miles! It's also very flat so people living anywhere can train appropriately for it. The lack of hills also makes it a great course on which to try and PR. (I should note it's a pretty crowded race! If you don't get a corral with your desired finishing time, running a PR could be challenging.) The EXPO is awesome and the race support and aid stations are wonderful!