Great tips!
1) Always wear your WISH shirt if you have one. It was so great that people could easily recognize me because of the shirt. Having the WISH supporters helped tremendously.
2) If you can, use the fuel they will have at the race. I started using PowerAde in my training because I knew that is what they would have. But, I continued to use GU and probably should have switched to what they had which is Power gel or something like that. I'm thinking the Espresso with double caffeine they were giving out towards the end would have been really helpful! I only took 1 small bottle of water because I knew I could drink what they had.
3) I used my IPod for maybe 15 minutes the entire marathon. There was so much going on that I didn't need it. Every time I'd start it up, there would be spectators or something I wanted to hear. I did wear the ear buds the entire race but didn't have the IPod turned on.
4) train with what you are going to bring on the course. About 6 weeks ahead of time I tried to decide what I wanted to carry on the course with me. Number of Gels, water, phone, etc. I loaded up my hydration belt and practiced with exactly what I was going to carry during the race. I actually started to feel uncomfortable without my belt as I was so used to it. I even wore it on my short runs.
5) As was mentioned earlier, buy early at the Expo. I wanted one of the white tech shirts and by the time I got there, they only had XXL and small.
6) Stay after the race. I enjoyed my visiting time before the race and the time actually went by pretty fast. After the race I didn't hang around too long. I wish I would have stayed for another 30 minutes or so just to soak up the environment.
7) last but probably the most important is enjoy the race. I made it a point to thank spectators and volunteers, take in the scenery and have an all around good time. OK at least until mile 23 then that "have a good time" stuff was out the window. I was in survival mode from 23 on
enjoy,
Duane