London Marathon with 5 year old spectating

[Mummyslittlegiraffe]

I’ve got a London Marathon place for this year, which I’m both excited and terrified about. We’d really like to take our 5 year old up for the weekend with us, she’s never been to London before, so Saturday will be great just seeing some of the famous sites.

I know from supporting in previous years that the Sunday is crazily busy and my DH shouldn’t plan on seeing me more than twice on the route. But I’m after some practical tips from people who have done this with similar aged children. We’ve got a hotel booked near Paddington and will travel up on Friday after school. I will probably dash across London to the running show to register leaving Saturday free. Sunday, we will go home after I’ve finished 2-5-3 hour journey.

Went to watch my sister do the marathon.

It was a very long day standing around for several hours. Your child is going to be bored rigid. It is absolutely packed full off spectators so they'll need to get a space early to stand a chance of being near the barriers.

It also rained heavily that year so we were soaked.

Also you need to be resting your legs Saturday...not walking all over seeing sites!

I went to watch a friend once with other friends and we walked over 13 miles! It was a very long day, so crowded, and lots of standing and waiting. The first stop we waited over 2.5 hours to ensure we got a spot. I personally wouldn't recommend with a 4 year old.

My 5 year old watched me last year although he was 4 at the time and he absolutely loved it. Husband planned well in advance on the stops he knew would be quieter and easier to get to and made it into a game on finding mummy. DS had a sign for me which he had been told was super important and he took the job very seriously. DH had a back pack bag full of snacks and this also left his arms free to carry DS when he needed to. I think I saw them 3 times.

What worked for us was they didn’t see me off at the start and had a much lazier morning than me setting off from home later and I first saw them at 10k which made their day shorter. He also made sure to use the gaps between seeing me to use the toilet and make DS try as public toilets can be hard to locate for spectators

Seeing DS at the end after I had finished and collected my medal was my absolute highlight. He was so happy and wore my medal all the way home . He still talks about mummy’s marathon now

I agree with pp, I think your daughter may well be bored. It’s absolutely rammed and incredibly difficult to get near the front to spot someone. Even if they do manage to see you, there’s a chance you may not see them. This happened to me, family were one side, I was running on the other, I didn’t see them or hear them shout.
I loved watching, and loved the atmosphere, It’s a very long day for spectators, with a lot of walking in crowds. Also the tubes at the end are rammed, which means a long wait to even get on them to get back.

Also on the Saturday you want to be resting your legs, so that means not spending the day sight seeing.
Would friends / family be able to join you so they could take to do some fun stuff and arrange to meet you at the end?

Enjoy your race, it’s an incredible experience.