Heard some great things about the MK Marathon so thought I'd sign up this year to see if it lived up to the hype.

The registration for the race and the postal delivery of the race number went without a hitch and I didn't need to worry about registering on the day and joining the queues.

Stadium MK itself is jaw dropping and I could not wait to have the famous stadium finish that everyone always spoke about with this race. I was getting very excited. That was until I got into my allocated pen....

I had put on my form that I wasn't in the super fast red pen but would be in the next one down in the yellow due to a more-than-achievable sub 3:40 finish. I remember when registering this was a fairly weird number to have as the fastest non-elite time but chose it anyway. You can imagine my surprise then when I saw the 3:15 and 3:30 pacers in with the elite and faster runners when I had registered with a time that would in theory put me between these two! I decided to walk and get into the tail end of the red runners and the Marshal did not mind so much when I explained.

The race started and we were underway.  Due to the relay, half marathon and full marathon starting at the same time, I found that it was a bit crammed and I had to weave in and out and run faster than my pace to catch up with the 3:15:00 pacer.

The first few miles of the MK marathon, it's fair to say, is not the most scenic of routes and the office blocks and roundabouts do nothing to argue the case against the classic cliche of Milton Keynes. Luckily, I had made conversations with a gentleman named Steve who was running a similar sort of pace as I and we were helping each other take our minds off the mundane landscapes we were running past. Steve was running really well and was really helping me maintain the pace, although we did notice for a large section of the first third of the race that the pacer was doing noticeably quicker than the average miles for that finishing time. Steve and I managed to keep the pace through the many, many underpasses as well as the roundabouts and we both were delighted to see the split just after the 7 mile mark.

The scenery on the course picked up dramatically and now we were running through parks, woodlands, along canals and on trail like conditions and this really seemed like a totally different race to the first 7 miles. We were maintaining our pace well and felt very fresh. It was around the 10 mile mark we were joined by Sam who was running his first marathon and was also running really well.

One major thing I did notice about this marathon was that the crowd support was incredibly few and incredibly far between. I'm not expecting atmospheres that rival London, Brighton or Dublin, but for a marathon which boasts being one of the top 10 in the country and seemingly had points of interest across certain mile markers, there were not many people out today. Could this be due to the weather? More than likely, it wasn't the most consistent of Summer Bank Holidays.

I could feel myself getting a bit leggy around 17-18 miles, so I told Sam and Steve to go on as I felt I was holding them back and they were both running superbly well. The next few miles were very, very tough with no crowd support and a lot of uneven and sometimes undulating terrain. It was not massively hilly, but after that sort of mileage at 7:20-7:30 a mile the slightest ramp feels like a climb.

At 21-22 miles, although cramp was setting in, I could feel my pace picking back up slightly so decided just to go for it. I always aim to finish around the 3:20:00 mark, preferably try to one day get under, but if not as close to it as I can. I noticed the infamous 23 mile marker had disappeared so miles 22-24 felt long but I hit 24 miles in 3:05:ish so knew I'd be around 3:20:00 if I  kept going at that pace.

I entered the Stadium MK to much applause and although I felt a real buzz, I couldn't muster a sprint finish around the pitch so thought I'd just enjoy the last bit. After a big cheer from my family and friends I was playing the village idiot, throwing water bottles in the air, cheering as I ran past people and then seeing that I hadn't hit 3.20:00 but a respectable sub 3:23:00, I did a big jump and punched the air (maybe I'll be on next years magazine?) I met Steve at the finish line who told me he actually finished in sub 3:10:00 which is fantastic and I am over the moon for him. Great effort from a genuinely nice chap who kept me going when I needed to dig deep. Hopefully I'll see him again at a marathon in the future.

Conclusion: a nice race and can see why it's popular, but surprised that a lot of runners who take part to thrive on atmosphere enter as apart from the stadium finish and odd pocket here and there, there wasn't that much on the course itself.

Would I do this race again? Very well organised, great marshals, wonderful medal and shirt, stadium finish and apart from the odd incline a nice flat marathon. Of course I would.

Thank you Milton Keynes, see you soon!