Let me just say first that I'll focus on the actual race and the expo as two separate entities. The race I absolutely loved, and the expo - not so much.

The little town of Corning, NY is home to Corning Glass and the museum of glass. I went there as a kid on a field trip and honestly hadn't been back since. I was excited to bring my family there!

Expo:
The expo was held at the Museum of Glass. To get to the *small* auditorium it was downstairs and through the gift shop area filled with lots of expensive glass sculptures to wind our way around with a stroller and child in tow. Not exactly family friendly. The expo itself was so packed my wife opted to stay outside of the auditorium until after I made my way through the long line for registration. It was a single line with no separations for last name etc, kind of a free-for-all. That being said it took about 20-30 minutes to pick up my Bib and packet. The good part was the swag! The 1/4 zip pullover was *really* nice! Nicest race gear I have gotten at this point. Also, they had a small wineglass with the year and details printed on it. And the cherry on top? A small bottle of champagne from the NY fingerlakes! Like I said, really sweet swag! The rest of the expo was small. Not very many big name vendors. Did a quick circle and left.
One other part of the expo that was frustrating was the parking. We parked in a parking garage and the elevators were secured and you needed a proxy badge to access them. We found that out on the way out and were unable to get out stroller down without assistance from a worker that I had to go track down. Again, not very family friendly.

Race day:
I got there early for the busses. I ended up staying about 25mi from Corning due to no available hotels because it's a small town and they likely booked way in advance and I had gotten in off the waitlist. Parking at 5:30am was plentiful and I walked right to the bus to take the short trip out to a local school all 13.1 miles away. They had ample portable bathrooms outside and you could sit and rest inside to stay warm. The starting line was about 0.25mi down the road. We lined up and off we went!

The course:
Out in the middle of upstate New York it was gorgeous! Running through residential areas where people cheered us on was fantastic! For the most part the course was flat or downhill. There were a couple areas of uphill. The one around mile 7 took a bit of energy to power up but it was all good. Seeing the finish line I knew I was sub 2hrs and wow was that exciting! A PR!

The medal was blown glass from Corning and that made it really special. The post finish food was catered by Wegmans and as any NYer knows, Wegmans is awesome!

Overall:
There were some frustrations with parking for the expo and the expo itself but the race and post-race festivities made up for it. I'd definitely recommend this race to others if you get a chance to do so! There's nothing like Autumn in NY!