? Drink more en route, arrange for a Mars Bar to be available at around mile 18 and try and stick to one pace the whole way through. M50, 4:30:19My first marathon and my last (or was it?) Fantastic day, what a crowd. It went well early on ,though

with the crowd with promises to meet up later quickly sent by text.I met up with Jackie at around three miles after chasing at a faster pace than I'd wanted. It meant we'd all but abandoned the walk/run strategy in the elation of just doing the marathon. A BIG

5 HOURS+ (Page 8) Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rach, 5:20 FLM '05 - my third and slowest marathon! I managed to meet up with my mate Snoop at the four-mile mark. The plan was that he would pace me round to a 4:30 PB. The first half went

this event such a humbling experience when you see so many other people overcoming life's hurdles just to be taking part: a local policeman from our area who had overcome leukaemia to run this year, or the blind man being led. It makes my pain seem so little

knew it was going to be busy, but I didn't appreciate just how difficult it would be to navigate. In hindsight, I think all my ducking and sniping for space affected what happened later.My first two miles were at about 10-minute mile pace and I slowly

, and the last four miles were an amazing finish to a great event. Coventry Cat, 4:22What an amazing day!I woke very early, way before my 6am wake-up call, opened the curtains at my hotel to see the clearest of blue skies. I stuffed breakfast down before greasing

in the vicinity. It’s amazing how your body can hold it in!My only frustration was that I started in a pen much slower than my target time which meant that I spent the whole time running slower than my natural pace, trying to overtake people and was never in my

was doing otherwise and wouldn't have recorded anything near my time of 4hr 09 mins.Duracell, 4:01:11I don't think any other running event will top that! What a day. The weather, the support, the buzz and feeling I got as I ran round were all bloody

saw everyone again. I did run, but at a really plodding pace, and by now had started to catch lots of people walking. The fact that I was still running kept me going - suddenly I understood the phrase digging deep. It was a bit like when you

of the event. As we waited for the lead lady to arrive there was a real atmosphere of anticipation and necks craned round every time a policeman on a bicycle came past or - even better - marshals on a motorbike. There were almost constant comments of "where