The London Marathon is the holy grail for many runners in the UK and I feel incredibly fortunate to have run this amazing event for the third time in 2018. It is extremely tough to get a place and so in spite of the extreme temperatures this year it’s unmissable. So here are my views on this iconic marathon.

Expo

I’ve been to a lot of big marathons but none have a better Expo than London. It starts with a very slick registration process and with your race number in hand it’s onto the main hall. As you’d expect, there’s a huge selection of stalls from the new headline sponsor New Balance to a large selection of every conceivable running piece of kit and equipment tempt you - of course you can never have enough running kit! I live in London so followed the recommendation to go earlier in the week to ease the crowds when runners from out of town arrived later in the week. It was an absolute breeze going on the Wednesday and there were lots of fun stuff combined with the expert tips and advice on the big stage.

Communication 

The communication via multiple channels in the build up to the race was first class. The weather warnings and advice and guidance on how to deal with 24 degree was first class.

Logistics 

Travelling to the red start required a train to Greenwich via London Bridge. I must confess it was absolutely rammed when I arrived but I did manage to make it onto a train as the hundreds of runners funnelled through the station. Arriving at the red start there was no queues at the bag drop and so I was able to relax and prepare for the start. Again, the high temperatures east that there was plenty of drinks to keep call before the start.

Staggered Start

The staggered start was introduced in London this year, not uncommon in big city marathons but I heard lots of mixed views from people. Personally I did prefer having a gap between the various pens which took away some of the usual congestion in the first couple of miles. However, it did feel when the course converged there were runners at different paces that took a while to regulate. I did stubble at this point which may have skewed my view but it will be interesting to see if it’s retained for next year.

Crowds

There’s no doubt that London Marathon crowds are always brilliant and ten deep in lots of parts of the course, but throughout the whole route I really loved the atmosphere and the shouts of encouragement. You absolutely need to do two things to get the benefit. Firstly, get your name on you shirt and secondly, ditch the headphones. I confess that I have previously run London wearing headphones but I made a conscious decision to leave them at home so I could really soak up the energy from the crowd. A couple of highlights, obviously Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf but also the Run Dem Crew at around 20 miles was really uplifting and the base from the sound system reverberated right through me.

Race Marshall’s

The race Marshall’s and volunteers did a tremendous job and given the conditions on the day they were extremely responsive whenever runners looked like they were struggling. There seemed to be even more than I noticed in the past, and credit to them for being out there for the whole day on the hottest ever London Marathon.

Drink Stations

Due to the extreme weather the organisers had put more drinks on the course, but I know that there were reports of water shortages between miles 8 to 10 but I fortunately didn’t have that issue. I can only assume that the trial with open cups may not have been conclusive, although it did make it easier to pour the remaining water over your head. I do have an issue with the sports drinks, the standard 500ml bottles are lot to consume and one can only wonder why Lucozade can’t make smaller bottles like Buxton water do.

Finish Line

After arriving at the Houses of Parliament you’re into the last mile and it’s a great feeling running down Birdcage Walk and starting the countdown from 800 metres and turning onto The Mall to make it over the finish line. Having that amazing medal around you neck is a great feeling. Grabbing a goody bag and collecting my bag was simple and I was on my way to the exit without any dramas.

In summary, the London Marathon is a fantastic event and I really cannot recommend it enough. If you have the opportunity, grab it with both hands - you won’t regret it!