Winter is a time for family gatherings and curling up with a book. And fall is a time for raking leaves, watching the fall foliage, and long distance running, especially marathon running. Boston is the rite of spring, but in much of the USA, fall is the best time of year to run a marathon. The crisp, cool air is ideal for training after a long, hot summer. Many fall marathons across the land feature a beautiful, scenic backdrop, making for a complete 26.2 mile experience.
Individual preferences vary widely when it comes to choosing a marathon.
Since there is such a big training investment, it only makes sense to be careful in selecting which race to run. If you go to a 5 km or 10 km road race and it turns out not to be what you were hoping for, you can always write it off and find another race the next week. It's not so easy when it comes to the marathon, unless you are an ironman who can run the 26.2 mile distance week in and week out. Those types of folks do exist, but I am not one of them, and you probably are not either. It sounds trite to ask this question, but not really.