🏃 Local marathon this weekend, anyone else running or just cheering from the side

Signed up for the ten kilometer category of the local marathon happening this weekend, my first time actually participating in one after years of just watching friends run past while I stood somewhere on the sidewalk cheering with a cup of tea in hand instead of actually joining in myself properly. Training for the past two months has been genuinely humbling honestly, discovering muscles I did not know existed complaining after even a fairly moderate run, and realizing just how much a proper running technique actually matters beyond simply putting one foot in front of the other repeatedly the way I originally assumed would be enough on its own. A colleague who has run several of these before gave me some genuinely useful practical advice, mostly around pacing myself early rather than starting too fast purely on nervous excitement, since apparently that specific early burst of adrenaline tends to backfire badly somewhere around the halfway mark for most first time runners attempting something like this themselves. The actual route this year passes through a few genuinely scenic parts of the city I honestly do not usually get to walk through myself during a normal week, which is honestly part of what convinced me to actually sign up in the first place rather than continuing to just watch from the sidelines every single year like I have done previously. My family is planning to actually show up and cheer at two specific points along the route, which genuinely helps knowing there will be familiar faces somewhere along the way when things inevitably start feeling considerably harder than they do right now just thinking about it beforehand. Is anyone else here actually running this weekend, or planning to go out specifically to cheer on friends or family participating themselves, and does anyone have any last minute genuinely practical tips for an actual first timer like myself before the actual event happens?

Ran the last one purely out of stubbornness after telling half my office I would, and somewhere around the eight kilometre mark seriously regretted opening my mouth about it in the first place. Finished slower than planned but the stretch near the lake with random strangers cheering complete strangers on made the whole thing worth the sore knees for days after.