My second time completing MK marathon, but the course has changed since 2015 (although the first half pretty much the same). I didn't realise I had to book car parking early, so had to park at the national bowl which was 20 min walk (40mins after the marathon!). So it meant I arrived with little time to spare in the end. Plenty of toilets to use around the stadium and bag drop was a breeze, so all good. However, arrived at the start pens with only 5 mins to spare and then getting to my pen (at the front) was very hard; granted this was all my own fault for not leaving enough time.

Once the race was underway, unlike other races the roads were wide and there was plenty of room to slowly get myself up with the pacing group that I wanted to be with (3:15). It's quite confusing being mixed in with the half marathon runners but once you understand what's going on it's fine. There was a 3hour and 3:15 pacer, would have loved something inbetween too, but understand finding fast pacers is hard.

Course itself, the first half has plenty of people around offering support, especially in the town. But the second half is quite lonley. Anytime you do go past people supporting they are excellent, really cheering you on and supporting but there are long sections with no one around. The course looks flat, but there are lots of bridges and underpasses and tight turns, these played havoc on my hips/quads/legs, so when I made the school boy error of stopping for a quick wee at mile 18, I could not get going again (should have stopped early like I usually do, but I was off kilter due to my mistake at the start). Water stops were great, and environment aside, so pleased they gave out water bottles with drink caps and made a great effort to clear up too.

Well sign posted and plenty of entertainment as well on the route, and lots of country side (and a few housing estates). The posts/curbs were quite annoying, but also well highlighted and marselled. I really enjoyed the stadium finish (despite the state of my legs) and the noise and crowd was a good boost. I finished in 3:27.13 which was 15mins off target, but every day is a school day! Good medal and t shirt at the end, plenty of water and nice recovery space too.

All in all, a tougher course than it looks on paper due to the twists, bridges and underpasses and sections without crowds, but a very well organised and fun event. Would defintley do it again