Getting to the start of the London Marathon might take some planning and the wish to avoid the stress of deciding how to get there and also saving energy might drain even the toughest of entrants.

Wendy and I had the perfect solution and situation. Have a son with an empty 4 bedroom house a couple of miles from the airport, the same distance from the Excel Centre and 3 miles from the start in Blackheath. Perfect! His abode not having a television or WiFi facilities left us in a kind of news black out and it felt quite good being in a kind of vacuum. I did manage to find out off an Orient supporter that Paul Lamberts Yellow and Green Army had won the League 1 championship though. A desert island does have to have the odd facility.

We decided that we probably wouldn’t be able to match our PB’s in Paris two weeks before so we would really enjoy this one and see what events took place along the way. To that end, we had a couple of drinks Saturday afternoon in gorgeous South London sunshine and the traditional pasta supper. At the next table in the restaurant was one of the chief Marshals for the marathon so one or two tips were passed on. We had spent most of the day draining a London Underground £20 Oyster travel card which is impossible as it stops taking your money after £6.30!

Neither of us really slept the night before. You don’t much in Woolwich on a Saturday night. The usual preparation of porridge and bananas got us in the mood and we set off, only to be told by first bus driver that we were heading in the wrong direction. Its amazing really. It’s a £2 flat fare, whether one stop or twenty so we did a Magical Mystery Tour of Lewisham (all the buses were diverted because of the Marathon) before arriving at Blackheath so we really got our moneys worth.

We got to the Blue start and there was Alex looking mighty glad of some company for the next hour or so. It seemed very well organised and the toilet facilities appeared to be very good which is a first for a big city run. We bumped into the Hayle guys and gals who were in a real chirpy and enjoying themselves immensely. Wendy bumped into Les and we met Andy just as we entered our starting pens.

Blue is definitely a better start than Red and we were over the start in 6 minutes and apart from a couple of complete halts were we literally stood still, we got to the three mile mark in good time. Not far past that we understood the meaning of “its my ball”. The race literature had begged everyone not to urinate in public or peoples gardens etc. Who was spotted using a tree for other purposes? None other than Richard Branson dressed as a butterfly and leading the celebrity caterpillar. He didn’t ever own Chrysalis records did he?

We made the most of this part of the course with its generous downhill parts and motored on. In fact by the time we had reached 9 miles at Surrey Quays, I told the very comfortable Wendy that she could get very close to 4 hours at this rate. And we were enjoying ourselves, high fiving youngsters and joining in with some of the mirth.

However, that all changed within the next mile, when Wendy was tripped from behind, fell flat and we had to get her first aid. It was an accident and the guy apologised but it did highlight the area where many charity runners weave about the course and don’t look where they are going and certainly one good reason why IPods should be banned. Maybe even as drastic as club runners given a different start time from an over enthusiastic first timer. We met Danny Kay at the end and he was a real mess of cuts and bruises after suffering the same fate. And his executioner didn’t even stop!

Try as hard as she could to keep going at the same pace, by 17 miles the swelling on the knee was causing a lot of discomfort and we had to keep stopping to keep water on it to try and keep it moist. We were lifted around this stage by the crowd who were to a person all singing the chorus to Hey Jude.

What had started as a really enjoyable run had now become a “lets get to the finish as soon as possible”

and even the crowds on the embankment couldn’t raise the spirits.

Make it to the finish we did and to her credit, Wendy still managed a 4.33 when it would have been easier to walk back. That showed a lot of toughness and durability and I think she has moved up another notch after this one.

It was good to meet all the Hayle guys and gals afterwards at Admiralty Arch as they celebrated their successes. We embarked on a little pub crawl on the south bank and after a spicy meal at Nandos it was back home for a well earned nights sleep. Reading the literature we then discovered that Wendy by virtue of her Paris time will be in a good for her age spot in next years London. Well done Duchess (she didn’t get called that once in London so I’ll make up for it here.