Firstly a huge happy birthday to Squix, welcome to the forties, they are the new twenties don't you know. 
Moshi I am SO pleased your mum seems to have turned a corner.
Well done C'est for keeping on going, that is the hardest hardest part of running in the heat.
Sorry for the delay with the race report, but Saturday night I had to go to a party, (where I fell asleep 
) and yesterday was tied up with all sorts of shenanigans. So race report here we come:
We jam packed the car the night before, then we left work at 11.30 and I drove us girlies 250 miles to the east of the country, to a plateau at about 2,500m in the shadow of Mt Kenya. We got there just before sundown and pitched tents, had a pre race briefing, had our pasta and popped into bed at 9.30, surrounded by a sea of tents all in the enclosed area away from the beasties. It's not exactly the most comfortable way to spend the night before running, the hippos were rather loud and I heard a pride of lion roaring in the distance at about 2am, a sound rather primeval and it always flips my tummy!
There was quite a lot of movement at about 4.30 so I got up at 5.15 slightly panicky that I wouldn't be able to do the necessary ablutions with over 1,000 people wandering about. I weetabixed and sun creamed up and the sun came up. We walked down to the start line where the local children, running in next to nothing, were taking part in a 5km race. We had a delay of 10 minutes as there were elephants lurking on the race track and not shifting inspite of being buzzed by a helicopter.
At the start it is each to their own, no special pens, no dispensations for elite runners. We started at about 7.35 and I got a good start. The terrain was incredibly dusty but it was amazing to see all these people snaking off into the distance. The first 10k is pretty level with a couple of small hills and I was making a good progress at about 54mins. Then I could feel my left calf tightening up and was convinced it was going to fully cramp up so I slowed down and tried to keep going. But I made the error of stopping to walk to see if it would loosen up and then after that I lost my momentum. By then it was hill central, long, steady inclines going up, up and up. I then couldn't get myself to shift back into gear. The ground was very soft, like running on sand and I just couldn't get my legs to move. So I ran a little down the hills and came in eventually at 2.30, after being passed by lots of people who are normally a lot slower than me. A friend of mine had a dizzy turn at one of the water stations so I stopped to make sure he was ok and made him walk with me for a bit. Apparently the ellies tried to make a come back onto the trace as my boss was reaching the last 5k. He said he got a tiny bit nervous after realising the helicopter was not having much luck in getting them to turn around!
So, frustrating, but I was determined not to feel too upset by it. After all I was in the most amazing place doing something I would never have dreamed I was able to do 5 years ago. I then hitched a lift back in a 4 seater Cessna light aircraft back to Nairobi, which is just such a lovely thing to be able to do. We even flew over my house. 
Today has been much harder at work with everyone talking about how well they did and I have had to put on my brave face and have a good joke about it. Sore loser that I am. After doing the course three times in a row, I shall let dh have his turn next year and I shall support.
In the meantime, I have a half in Nairobi at the end of October and I am going to buy a Garmin and I'm going to run the bloody thing under 2 hours.
You are all a great source of inspiration, long may it continue.