The London Marathon

Yesterday was the big day that hundreds of people have been building up to for months and months, so I thought that I would watch it on TV... mostly so I could compare it to actually being there last year.

On Saturday, I asked my step dad what time it started and he said '8 something'... I chocked! Ok, well not literally but I said 'IN THE MORNING?' in a very surprised sounding voice, which was laughed at by the others who were at the table. 

I decided that I would get up at 9:30am so that I could watch the most part of it, so I set my alarm. I woke up at 11:30am, not remembering my alarm going off at all, and promptly got my breakfast and then sat at my desk, watching the marathon as I ate. 

I was up in time to see the winners of the elite races, so that was pretty good! There was one point where the people in 2nd and 3rd place were on the straight to the finish, battling to get 2nd place. I could see the 3rd place runner creeping up on the 2nd place runner, carefully watching him to decide when to make his move. He timed it perfectly and the 2nd place runner unfortunately didn't react quick enough and did finish 3rd. While watching that point, I could imagine EXACTLY what my mum would be doing. She was in the living room and I was imagining her cheering on the people and shouting at the TV, like she does with most sporting events (mostly running). I asked my sister later on... I was right!

I remember last year, I was just round the corner from the 385 yard bridge and all of the elites were still running strong at that point... wow! It's just incredible that they can actually run that far and still be running well! I know I'd be struggling at that point... but I'm not an elite so I guess it's different! 

I don't know whether the wheelchair racers were before I woke up but I don't remember seeing any what so ever! I remember them last year whizzing past us, so it was sometimes hard to get a picture! I think this picture shows their speed quite well... 

My favourite part of the marathon is seeing the wacky costumes that the general public come dressed in! Last year there were so many supermen, banana men, batmen, any super heroes really! There are a few costumes that particularly stick in my mind from last year, like the couple who had just got married, the fairy which I have an awesome picture of (see below) and Richard Branson's butterfly costume. 

I found some pictures of them: 

Just married

Awesome fairy - my favourite

Richard Branson Butterfly

There aren't many costumes that I particularly remember from this year, as the coverage on TV didn't really show that many of them really. so nothing particularly stands out other than a man with a washing machine on his back (ouch), a group that had a tea party, a man dressed as a woman and a man carrying a tiger. 

We didn't see many celebrities because we only waiting until we saw my mum's boss' son, Simon (the one in blue), who was running in memory of his mum and then we left after that as we had been there a good 3 or 4 hours I think!

Watching it on TV is so different from actually being there and experiencing the atmosphere of the real thing! It was more of a memorable experience actually watching it and I enjoyed cheering on everyone and giving them a bit of support in there last few hundred yards of the course! It was great to see people helping out each other too. Those who fell down, hit the wall, or just generally struggled were picked up and helped to the end by fellow runners, which was really good to see!

What don't I miss about being there? Well, I DEFINITELY don't miss the irritating man who was behind me for ages, almost leaning on me, pushing me against the barrier! Get there earlier, don't invade my personal space! And various other invasions of my personal space through out the day, but I guess that's always going to happen around crowds! 

I go on about the atmosphere of the experience, but I suppose nothing compares to actually running the marathon, how incredible would that be! My mum wants to do it one year as she is a very keen runner... just not THAT keen yet! I've thought about maybe doing it in the future as I think it would be an amazing thing to do but I just can't imagine myself running for that distance... I might actually die! Maybe in 2 or 3 years I'll enter or something!