London Marathon

[Violetroselily]

Anyone find themselves crying whilst watching the marathon on TV? Every year.

What a show of human spirit

I hope any MNers running are having a good race

This is just a little bit too!

Yep, every time.

I’ve wanted to do it all my life, so this year I’ve applied! Fingers crossed!

I think I heard that all the plastic bottles are being recycled starting this year.

Can't believe that they weren't already recycling the bottles - everyone should wear hydration vests then you don't need a whole bottle for one sip

I cried at the mini marathon (my son was running!), I cried at the kids' wheelchair races and the ambulant race, I cried at the stories of some of the runners, I cried when any other runner cried... oh dear. Such fun!

I did it yesterday.

It was the best day of my life apart from the days I gave birth to my children. Would recommend it to anyone! It still hasn't sunk in, what I've managed to achieve.

cakeallday congratulations! Fantastic achievement!

Were you a long-term runner?

cake Well done, it’s an amazing achievement. I did it two years ago.

Thank you!

@Pinkarsedfly I've been running for 4 years but this was my first (and probably only!) marathon. For the first 38 years of my life I was unfit.

Well done cake. Id love to do it just to say i have!

Ive done a marathon before and it was one of the toughest in the UK. So London will be bliss if i get in!

I've applied for next year. I'm 50, about 7 stone overweight and haven't run since 1984!

I thought this was going to be about the stories of unpleasantness towards the tail end runners. Has anyone had any experience of that?

I've always enjoyed watching it but even more so since I took up running myself five years ago.

For anyone who is thinking about taking up running go for it, I was 42, overweight and very unfit when I started the couch to 5k five years ago. I've now run a 5k, a 7k twelve 10k's four half marathons (my 5th this Sunday) and a marathon (Yorkshire).

I cry every year. I told my DH that I couldn't watch it this year because I was already too emotional from having our cat PTS so I couldn't take any more. He looked at me like

I find it so incredible. I am not a runner. Feel sick after 5 mins on a treadmill. But seeing all those personal achievements warms my heart every year and I sit there snivelling.

'I thought this was going to be about the stories of unpleasantness towards the tail end runners. Has anyone had any experience of that?'

No. It was an utter, utter disgrace.

You simply don't close the course until half an hour or so after your final official pacer.

Yes, if you are behind that pacer, you may have to move to pavements (as they keep the finish line and final approach to it open as long as possible, but not every closed road). But if there's an official pacer, the course should be open.

VLM needs to decide properly what it's going to do about this. The 6.5 hour pacer was facing abuse too, plus water stations which had run out, and only XS tshirts left at the end. But about 1000 people finished over 6.5 - that's 1 in 40 runners. And they deserve better

VLM is a well-off event with a good sponsor. They can afford todo better than that. Especially as it tends to bill itself as a community event, not just a running one.

I hope it was a blip, but there's really no excuse for this. Having taken the decision to have pacers for 6.5 hours and other slower times, they should have made certain that the slower runners would have water, suitable sized t-shirts and a fully marshalled course, just like the faster people. All the marshals and contractors should have been briefed (and paid where relevant) to expect to be on the course later than in previous years. Hardly rocket science. I'm disappointed, I had expected better of the London Marathon team.

I'm a very slow run/walker myself. I'll never do a marathon (don't want to, not just can't imagine being that fit) but I do parkrun and I've entered a couple of 10k races. I would find it really offputting to get to the finish after the organisers had basically packed up.

The tshirts is the easiest bit to solve.

If you run out of a size, you let the person take away a Tshirt of a different size on the day, with a code to order one the correct size after the event. VLM is a rich enough event to be able to afford a second print.

'I don't care about the Tshirt' said no runner, ever

I don't see why they can't put your t-shirt size on your bib number, they just have to ask what size you want when you sign up.

A lot of the races I do have that so you get the size you want and they don't run out.

I was a big p***d off when they ran out of medals at my first half marathon. I got one in the post six weeks later but it's not quite the same.

I don't give a hoot about the t-shirts in fact it annoys the hell out of me that there isn't a tick box for none required. Most of them end up in land fill I'm sure. The medal on the other hand....!

I ran it this year in just under 6 hours and they only had xs and xl t shirts left
Same 5 years ago when I was almost 40 minutes faster ..

I've still got my finishers t-shirt - and when the Marathon hit a million finishers (over all the past years) my DH bought me a t-shirt that has the finishing number out of the million on it too.

I haven't managed to do the marathon again since because of illness so when he produced the million finishers t-shirt I burst into tears and haven't actually worn that one - but I do have it safe. I'm so glad I did it when I could and I still have a hankering to do it again!

chic it’s so nice when they do something thoughtful isn’t it
Dh got my medal framed as a surprise when I did it last time and I cried too.

The tshirt is a big deal, especially marathon ones!

I ran the Snowdon race few yrs back and the t-shirt was an awful grim colour. I cant wear it as it goes with nothing so dh wears it and its a real tight squeeze!

I've never worn my marathon finishers shirt, I'm still replenishing my spent calories 2 years on and it doesn't fit