Agree with this: not sure that the advice you need is any different than the advice the sub-3:00 poster needed.
Also agree with this. I am shocked by the number of people who are telling you to plan to negative split. That is tough under ideal circumstances, and this course does not present ideal circumstances for a negative split for the reasons Precious Roy highlights.
I am not sure that I agree with this. I mean, every race has its dead spots where runners start to string out. I have experienced this in all three of my marathons (all big ones - NYC, Chicago and Boston). NYC was more competitive and had more people in my pace range (2:35 on a very windy day in 2014) than Chicago did (2:30), although not quite as many as Boston did (2:34).
Yep, great advice. Particularly if you get some wind, which makes this course even tougher because of the bridges.
Also, prepare for the mental letdown of running through the Bronx. It is a wasteland, and that is even more noticeable given the huge and supportive crowds that you experience for almost the entirety of Brooklyn (best crowds of the race in my opinion) and on First Avenue in Manhattan.
On the topic of crowd support, the wall of sound on First Ave in Manhattan is impressive, but the crowds on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn were the best crowds I've ever experienced in a race. They were like the crowds that you experience at the center of each of the little towns on the way into Boston, but they were that way for the entirety of the first 8 or 9 miles (until you get into an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood where the people literally make believe you are not there, which is really cool in its own way because of the contrast to what you experience right up to that point). I have to admit that I am a little biased as I am a Brooklyn native.