Brighton was my one and only previous Marathon experience having run it in 2017. This year I wanted to give it another crack and see if I could improve on my time of 3:51 by eliminated those little things that bug you after. Last year it was a small wardrobe malfunction where I spend the first 1/3 pulling my shorts up as I overloaded them with gels,phone etc. And also the cramp I got after I ran through the cold showers on a hot day. 

Last year I stayed local. Living in Essex it is a bit of a pain having to come to Brighton before the race day to collect the pack. However I drove up with my family on the Saturday and made a day of it. Arriving just after midday, parking was no problem at all and the racepack collection itself took a matter of minutes. Very clear and organised. 

On race day I had opted for the park and ride option. I was very concerned about this as I wasn’t sure how painful an experience it would be. I have to say though it was amazingly well organised and actually made the morning quite stress free. I arrived at Brighton Racecourse, got changed, and was on the bus within 10 mins. The bus then left within another 5 and dropped us off right outside Preston Park. If anything I was a little too early. Which helped as I dropped by bag off at the wrong bag drop. I dropped it off at the 10k drop rather than the Marathon. Luckily as I was so early and there were not huge amounts of people there I was able to retrieve it and correct my mistake. I blame race day nerves!

The atmosphere in the park was amazing and whilst we waited hearing some of the stories from the people being interviewed were truly humbling and inspiring. 

The course itself was once again lined from start to finish with amazing support everywhere you looked. Many people say that the part around the industrial estate is the hardest and to be fair it is tough but I think this is because it is around the 20/23 mile point. Personally I find the hardest around 15 miles where you have a long straight road, I think called marine parade, that stretches out as far as the eye can see and then comes back again. All you can see is an endless line of runner going out and coming back. That said the support down this stretch is also incredible. Whole families getting together to have a party a cheer the runners on. 

Mall in all it’s my only marathon experience but one I think will be hard to beat. Support is amazing, route is interesting and the organisation is spot on. 

How did I do? Not great, training had been interrupted and I knew that I would match the previous year at the start. However like many other inexperienced runners I suspect, the start happened and I went off like a rocket for the first 14 miles, ( rocket by my standards anyway). At 16 miles a hit a great big dirty wall and struggled for the rest of the race. Even a fellow UK Runchat member stopping to help and give me a few motivational talking too’s couldn’t fix my legs. I ended in 4:13:51. Which if you’d asked me the year before I would have said was fantastic. So in hindsight I’m fairly happy with it. 

Mom summary. Great event great support and great day out. Just wish there was an option to post race packs out.