DS napping, so hopefully I get the chance to write a wee race report - this could get long!
Firstly, thank you so much for all your support on this thread, and furthermore, for sponsoring me. I've raised £891 for Macmillan so far which was so unexpected. So thanks, all of you. :)
I went down to stay with my cousin (who is an amazing runner) who lives on the north side of the Forth Road Bridge on Friday straight after work. It's a 4 hour drive down there for me and I should have said I was leaving so early as I never got the chance to thank you all before I left and felt guilty about it! Anyway, I decided to go into Edinburgh on the Saturday morning on the train and have a wander around and get my bearings - big mistake! I couldn't find where the start was going to be, I couldn't work out how I was going to get to Edinburgh in the morning (as it was too early for trains/buses) and I was beginning to wish I'd just paid for a hotel in Edinburgh - I had to drive through on the Sunday morning and I don't know Edinburgh very well so didn't know where to park etc. I got back to my cousin's for dinner and he tried to explain to me where I could park etc, but I was still panicking about being in the right place at the right time etc.
So, to Sunday, I got up at 5:30am and had a bagel with peanut butter. Was so nervous! Left his place at about 6:30am and managed to get to Edinburgh without any hiccups (thanks TomTom!) and I was lucky to find a place to park just off Leith Walk, although I did wonder throughout the day whether the car would still be there when I got back! 
I spotted a guy with a luminous yellow running top on so I stalked him up to Princes Street and spotted the big trucks for our bags and the masses of people! I've never run in such a big event, so I was a bit 
! I dumped off my bag (left my sunglasses in it, oops) and put my green Macmillan bin liner on and headed to the pen. I found my friends from my running club on the way, which was great. We went our separate ways to different pens, but I stayed with one of them as we'd done all our training together. The weather was not ideal - we had a few rain showers and it was quite windy.
8am came, the sun came out (really wished I hadn't left my sunglasses in the truck) and we were off - it took us about 4 mins to actually get to the start line - there were 4500-ish runners. Myself and my friend started running and according to the Garmin, we were going at about 8:30min/miles so we had to slow down as there's no way we'd have sustained it over 13.1 miles. I actually found the start of the race the hardest. It's so difficult to pace yourself properly and it seems to take me about 3 miles to get into some kind of rhythm. We ran down past the Parliament building and up towards Meadowbank stadium before heading out along Portobello Prom. I passed a colleague from work around about here which was nice! I didn't bother with water at the first stand at 3 miles and got through the 10k mark in 57 mins-ish - that isn't far off my 10k PB, so was a bit concerned about how I'd be feeling near the end. I missed a drink at the 6 mile mark somehow (still not sure how I managed that) but there was another one at 8 miles, so I was ok. Just after that 8 mile water station, there was a huge Macmillan cheer point and as I ran towards them, they started cheering my name (which was on my vest) and I got such a boost! There was a woman just by there giving out jelly babies - what a legend - I'd forgot mine. We passed the finish line at about mile 9 (I think?) which was pretty tough. There were people already finished, but they were cheering us on, which was great. We ran out towards Prestonpans looking for the male runner from our club. We spotted him quite close to the turning point, which ended up being at about 11 miles, so were delighted to see he wasn't that far ahead of us. The next mile 11-12 was my slowest (10:08 I think - certainly my only mile over 10 mins) - partly due to the Lucozade stand and partly due to feeling pretty tired. I grabbed a Lucozade, which was much needed at that point, and kept it with me until the 12 mile mark. The crowds started to gather here and at about 12.5 miles, we sped up a bit. The last half mile was incredible - the support was fantastic and having my name on my vest meant people were cheering me on by name which was just awesome. :)
I can't describe how I felt when my friend and I crossed the finish line together. I was overwhelmed in a 'did we just manage to do that' kind of way. As soon as I stopped running, my legs were like jelly and started to get stiff, so had to have a bit of a stretch. The finish wasn't particularly well organised - we had to walk a wee bit, then round the corner, we got our medals (which are lovely) and a photo taken, then on to get our goody bags and t-shirts. It took a while to get my bag back (that should have been easier) and I had put my Crocs in there so it was so good to take my trainers and socks off and put those on! We bumped into our other clubmates had a big hug, then I went off to the charity village. I was given a big hug from a Macmillan person, then a cup of tea (I love a cup of tea after a run!!) and then was led over to the massage tables. That was fabulous! 
I sat down and had a chat with some of the other runners, had another cup of tea and a sandwich, then headed out to get the shuttle bus back to Edinburgh. Found my car (yay!) then drove back to Dunfermline. Got a rather excited text from my cousin to say he'd done the marathon in 3 hours 1 minute (!) then had the best shower ever. He got home, we had a pizza, then I drove back up the road. Getting out of the car after 4 hours of driving was, erm, interesting!
I don't actually feel too bad today though. I'm a little tired and my thighs are a bit sore, but I feel a lot better than I had anticipated. No injuries, no blisters and I can actually walk.
So, to summarise, it was a lovely run - a great course, really flat and going along the prom was lovely. The spectators/supporters were brilliant and there was no point at all during the race where I felt uncomfortable. Things I've learned:
-nutrition is so important. I was really careful about what I was eating when in the run up to the race and I've never felt so good during a run!
-putting your name on your shirt is brilliant - the buzz I got from people saying "go on Debs, you're almost there/you're doing so well" etc was fab!
-even if it's raining, take your sunglasses - the sun came out just as we were crossing the start and because it had been raining, the glare off the road was horrible.
-acknowledge the support you get.
-my cousin is amazing.
My splits, if anyone is interested:
1 00:09:35
2 00:09:28
3 00:09:17
4 00:09:09
5 00:09:30
6 00:09:35
7 00:09:35
8 00:09:43
9 00:09:57
10 00:09:53
11 00:09:52
12 00:10:08
13 00:09:54
I'm now looking for my next challenge... I really really enjoyed that yesterday and will definitely do it again.