My third year running the Milton Keynes marathon and boy it was a scorcher.  A regular race in my calendar falling on May day this year's was on the day widely reported to be the hottest May Day bank holiday since records began, coming a mere fortnight after the hottest ever London marathon requiring the support team and volunteers to really be on their game and I'm happy to say in my experience they were.

The organisation was very slick and there were a good number of water stations with some also having gels and energy drinks plus the support of the local residents to help keep the runners as cool as was possible in such conditions was excellent.

The course was familiar to me and my main reason for returning is the unique beauty of particularly the middle section of this event when it goes through Willen and keeps away from roads.

The goodies from the race are very good, an excellent T-Shirt and while I'm personally not a fan of the current trend for wacky medals the cow themed ones are just the right side of high quality for me to feel they are suitably impressive for someone who's just run 26 miles.  The goody bag was also well stocked with water, energy drink, banana, crisps and brioche.

The organisers are also making an effort each year to make the entertainment around the stadium better and better and there seemed to be a lot going on for supporters and families to enjoy.  Not least the wonderful superhero fun run.

My only small gripe was that for the first year I've done it they decided that rather than use the large space at pitch level for baggage and medals they used the concourse which was a bit crowded but more importantly up significantly more steps than my aching legs were entirely happy about.

In summary I really like this run, it's growing every year to become a real festival of running in some beautiful surroundings, very well organised and with a really great stadium finish