Acceptance slip had to be printed, lack of organisation on my part meant I didn´t even print it on the other side of one of the many waste paper sheets available in my parents house.
Race number and number sticker were impossible to avoid.
Safety pins were not needed but instinct to pick them up kicked in.
The bag full of random freebies I said no thank you to, but unfortunately nothing could be left in the bag drop unless in the official bags, so the compromise we came to was that they emptied out the the bag and gave us one empty one between us. Realistically no saving was made here as the stuff had already been produced, but maybe we created a tiny bit of awareness and more people were saying they didn´t want the stuff maybe they would rethink the policy.
Possibly my worst failing at the expo was picking up an unnecessary pacing wristband, my mental arithmetic is good enough that there was no need for me to take this!
On the day I did much better, carrying my own water bottles and jellies and having two refill/refuel stations with family at mile 11 and 18 as well as grabbing random jellies from thoughtful spectators who handed them out on the way. This meant I didn´t need to take any bottled water, gels or energy drinks along the way, the only thing I could have done better was get my jellies from pick and mix packaging free.
But did I suffer for my cause:
I did get a bruised feeling on my lower back (though it wasn´t visible) post race, from my bum bag (and the 330 ml of water bottle) bouncing up and down during the race. Obviously it was slightly more effort carrying my water during the race, but I don´t think I noticed, and being aware of how much water I was consuming (having looked up the optimal amount on the internet before the race) meant I was better hydrated throughout the run.
As for my time, I am not sure the refilling impacted it much, maybe taking the short breaks allowed me to recuperate and I sped up as I approached my refueling stations as I knew they were coming, and probably a little bit through all the water stations, so really I don´t think it had any effect.
The only lasting damage is that the only photos my family took on the day show me refilling instead of running: