Great communication via email about advice for accommodation, nutrition, offers etc. This was my first international marathon & I only have my experiences of London marathon to compare it to. I attended the expo on the Friday afternoon; it was easy to find, not busy & welcoming. I needed my passport to get my number but my friend didn't have to show here on Sat. The 'goodie bag was given at the start of the expo; lots of leaflets & some pistachio nuts, lol! I collected my t-shirt at the end of the expo, it makes you go through all the stalls. Asics was main sponsor so of course lots of merchandise to buy if you wanted to. We were able to buy a discount travel pass for 13 euros which gave you 48hrs on public transport from the time you activated it; this was useful as we used it to get the metro back to the airport. Race day: Arrived at 7.30am in order to drop off bag by 8.15am. This was a little chaotic as the marshals blocked use from entering & only let us through in waves; I'm sure this was done to allow people to clear the bag drop but it caused pushing and a cramped environment whilst waiting to go through. Although there had been pictures about the starting gates I didn't see any signs as to where to go & just followed others. Eventually got to the back of field (I'm a slow runner!) of approx 17,500 runners & could see the last pacer at 4.30 hr finish time. It took 20mins to get over the start line to the sounds of Queen's Barcelona!!! & a blast of confetti, great atmosphere. During race: All road running, lots of water stations which was a relief as it was sooo hot. Powerade stations and fresh fruit, all lovely. Km markers were clear & there were a few mile markers. The route took you round all the major sights & there were lots of musical entertainers along the way with loud drums & singing. It was a flat course & as a result the runners thinned out very quickly which meant no weaving to move round people. As time went on & I continued my plod it appeared that the crowds tolerance perhaps dropped & at times I was have to dodge people crossing the roads, kids on bikes & a mini shopping trolley! This was due to the route not being barriered; there were never any issues with traffic though. It was a little disappointing that the clear up bus crew did tell us at one point the we either needed to run faster, get on the pavement it get in the bus as we were at the cut off time for the race. The issue here was that the cut over started at the start of the race not from when the last person had started! This did annoy me & my friend & did give us a bit of a kick but we then didn't really enjoy the last part of the race as we were constantly looking behind us! The clear up bus meant that as the bus went through all the water stations, timing pads etc were then cleared up too. When I filled in my application I don't recall a cut off time so I felt bad for those runners who had trained but then were forced to quit, perhaps the organisers could look at increasing the allowed time. At the end of the race it wasn't really clear as the where to go as the event was winding down. I got water & more powerade plus a nice medal & more fruit & went up to collect my bag. There were lots of toilets around the route & some even still had toilet rolls in them by the time I got there;. Run through showers at 35km & 39km were lovely! I didn't notice many medical support apart from the Vaseline crew; I'm sure that if you did need help the volunteers would have helped, thankfully I only ever needed the keep going & we'll done bit! After the event: Quickly emails dropped through with a well done, finish time & a video clip of my finish! Then later some pictures & more video clips of me racing through the event; a nice touch. By Monday evening my sourness of the pick up bus had passed & on reflection I really enjoyed it! Definitely recommend it to others especially those looking for a quick time.