The months of training were over and the tapering period had got my legs itching for the off. So on a sunny spring morning I made my way to Greenwich and to the start of 26.2 miles that make up the London Marathon. I arrived at the Blue start with plenty of time to spare, time to relax and to fight off the nerves!
I started quite far back, crossing the start line over six minutes after the hooter had blown for the start of the race. There were lots of people around me but it was not the sardine tin that I’d half expected and I managed to run at a good pace from the off, navigating a route through the slower runners by staying close to the kerb and keeping an eye out for free space along the route.
I ran with my pocket camera and so managed to take a few shots on the way around, you’ll notice that this activity stopped at around half way, when the real business of marathon running started.

Another selfie at Mile 4 – still looking fresh and composed despite the blue sky and spring sunshine

Somewhere around mile 6 I came across a fellow guide dogs fund raiser – Alfie the guide dog was on good form but I bet it was hot under all of that fur

One way to see whose running behind you is to take a selfie – looks like number x4080 was happy to smile for the camera

Around mile 11 I came across this fella dribbling a football along the whole marathon course. It looks like he had good ball control but I don’t know what he did on the down hill sections

Around Mile 12 I ran past the official Guide Dogs supporters zone and got a great cheer – unfortunately I didn’t have the camera ready in time so the only shot of them is about 25m behind me
And so, just before half way the film ran out on my camera (or something like that). It was time to concentrate on getting round the hard section of the course, the second half!
However, I did find another roll just before the finish:

Not the best quality photo due to the camera staring straight at the sun but the content certainly looks good to me