I ran the inaugural Yorkshire Marathon and after a gap of several years decided to give it a go again in 2017.

The race has lots of positives; a really friendly race with excellent course support even out on the countryside sections, with a party atmosphere in the small villages en route, and a supportive vibe from fellow runners. It is famous for a high giving vicar at around 8 miles, and this year I was lucky enough to high five the Archbishop of York at 19 miles too.

As with most Run for All events it has a great medal and T shirt, a decent goodie bag and a pint of alcohol free beer at the finish.

The course itself whilst not hilly, is more undulating than the organisers would have you believe and sections of it felt like long drags. It is however a reasonable course with a nice mix of city at the start, countryside and little villages.

The start area was busy, with long toilet queues and it felt as though I'd walked around the race village a lot before the start.

I had major issues with the event this year. The race information advertised Zero salt tablets on the course which was a major bonus for me as I'd trained with them and it meant I didn't need to carry my own (which I would normally do for a marathon). However, no such tablets were on the course (apparently it was a printing error in the race literature) and the Asda sports drink didn't cut it for me, so on a warm day I was suffering with a lack of salt, cramps and feeling sick from before half way.

My other major issue was trying to keep up with the 5 hour pacer which should've been comfortable for at least the first 3/4 of the race (half PB is 2:13 and 2:30 half is easy paced). However I started feel as though I was struggling with the pace before 20k and started to panic, feeling as though I was ill or the salt deficit was affecting me more than it should and so it dropped off pace at 20k and lost my head for a bit, as did lots of others in the 5 hour group. I've since found out that the pacer ran the second 10k in less than 1.02 and then after in the race I saw her walking (pacer did 4th 10k in 1.25).

To be fair to the race organisers they took my complaints seriously and did their best to recompose me as a gesture of goodwill.

Less than a month after the event I'm not sure I'd run it again, but perhaps that will change when my disappointment at the day fades.