The expo is great, with lots of companies represented and you can hang around there for hours if you wish. They also have talks about course strategy you can attend. Picking up your bib and shirt is easy. The thing that surprised me is that everyone asks if it's your first New York City Marathon, the amount of other marathons you've ran before almost seems to become irrelevant when you're in New York for marathon week. On Friday there is even a big opening ceremony with all the flags of all the countries that are represented in the race and fireworks afterwards. On race day you have to get to Staten Island early and thus it is quite the wait. I had to wait for 4.5 hours, because my bus left early and I was in the last starting wave. Make sure you wear enough clothes to keep you warm. There are bins where you can throw them in before the start and everything in them will be donated to charity. The starting village has enough toilets and there is enough food, such as bananas and bagels for you to eat while you wait. Since there are 3 starting colours and 4 different waves the 52,000 runners are spread out pretty well. It's busy on the course, but I never found it too busy. The streets are wide and you can run on the outside and enjoy the crowds or you can run more towards the middle if you need a bit of time to yourself. It is a tough course with quite a few uphills. But there is no better way to see New York. From mile 3 onwards there are aid stations every mile with water and Gatorade, which is awesome. From mile 21 onwards they also had bananas, but I wish they would have done that from the beginning. Not necessarily every aid station, but every 3 miles would have been great. The views and the crowds are fantastic and you get to run though all the five boroughs and finish in Central Park. After you finish and get your medal, volunteers help you with getting a heat sheet on you and either getting you a poncho or getting your bag. I had chosen for the poncho and they also help you with getting the poncho around you (because moving can be a bit of a challenge after a marathon). All volunteers were very helpful and friendly. It is however still a bit of a walk before you can leave the park. It is a great race and if you like road marathons it should definitely be on your bucket list.