London Marathon 2008

I suppose I'm writing about London Marathon on here because I was running for Macmillan. I managed to secure my own place through the ballot system and approached Macmillan as they are in the Business for Breakfast group that I attend in Leyland.
My parents live on the Isle of Dogs and as an addicted fell runner I've been saying for years that I should do the London Marathon, even although I hardly ever run on tarmac. I had no idea what to expect as most of the races that I normally do have between 100 to 500 runners. Even then I thought 500 seemed like too many. How was I going to cope with running on the road with 34 thousand other runners?
Well I needn't had worried because it is a truly amazing event. The support and crowds are absolutely fantastic (BBC thought that over half a million lined the streets). The cheering/screaming was so loud on some sections that I'd have had to put my fingers in my ears if I wasn't running past! The official Macmillan supporter places were tremendous too. Hundreds of Macmillan supporters stood together (I bet some of them had been there for hours to get the best spots) and they would go absolutely mental once they saw any of their green vests.

I smiled, laughed and waved most of my way around the 26.2 mile course in 3Hour 11 minutes. Not bad since I didn't have a clue what sort of pace to run at and all important "marathon taper" wasn't typical as I'd ran a 40 mile fell race the week before, (it had almost killed me!). I'm even tempted to go back next year! Online ballot is already open so maybe I'll see you there in 2009.