I signed up a week before the race as I was dissapointed with my Brighton marathon experience.

Getting to the start was easy as I was dropped off early and there were loads of marshalls around to help out. I picked up my race number from the tent and quickly dropped my bag off which was easy to do.

The marathon started at 9am which was a good time and off we all went. This race is two laps which I knew about when I signed up.

The 1st lap was really good and I felt really good I  kept hydrated and used my gels/sweets. The support on the 1st lap was really good and the common had loads of people which helped take my mind off the laps/time. 

The second lap was disappointing as I started to feel ill/sick. I felt my time I had hoped for slip away but I knew I had to finish this race. 

The support had mostly all gone around the course apart from the water stations. These were not near each other and I did worry about safety if a runner had fallen. My other problem was people (nothing to do with the marathon) trying to take the signs you follow down as "it's funny" which just killed any enthusiasm I had left. 

Itchin bridge killed me the 2nd time around and at that time I was unwell with chest pain, I just wanted to finish the race. 

I got a 5 min pb from Brighton two weeks before. 

The organisers were excellent and the medal and t shirt were great and the biggest bonus is they never ran out of bottled water. 

I don't feel like this is a race I would enter again. This is a perfect race if you like hills which I've found out I don't.