I found the Manchester Marathon to be extremely well organised with fantastic Marshall’s throughout the course who were encouraging and checking the welfare of runners. 

I found it to be such a friendly race in terms of fellow runners chatting before, during and after. Making the tough parts of the race just that little bit easier. 

The course is said to be the flattest marathon in the UK and it really is flat. I can only think of a couple of times it was a slight incline but nothing drastic at all. I think this would really be a good first marathon. 

I struggled to find my pace at the start which impacted my plan mentally and it was a tough morning/afternoon but still resulted in a huge PB. I was in zone G right at the back therefore having to try and find some space once passing the start line. It only took 12/13 minutes to get started which wasn’t too bad at all.