the experience one to be treasured forever.Can I do it again please? !!Sarah Ficken, 5:36I was shaking with nerves and excitement as I waited at Epping station at 7 o'clock on Sunday morning for the tube, dressed in my running kit. Very soon all the runners were

Runner's World. I had put a good chunk of mileage in, mostly by running the 7.5 miles from work to home two or three times a week, but I hadn't gone 'long' as recommended, and some of the races I'd planned along the way had been scuppered by bad weather

, the encouragement, the street entertainment, the sights, the runners, my family and friends, the finish line, my medal, and the pain and joy!Thank you RUNNERS WORLD for your fantastic website! Thank you fellow runners for your support and good sense of humour! I

to the Tube station at 7.30am from a random bloke who'd been running earlier who noticed my kit bag and wanted 'to help save my legs for the race', continued with the Tube driver wishing all the runners all the very best of luck and continued all day

was absolutely amazing – seeing my friends and family made me keep going a number of times. And running across Tower Bridge – every person in the crowd makes you feel as if you are the most important person in the world. Very humbling – you are never alone for a

instead of sitting behind the fence sipping tea)But after I debriefed I found I was fascinated with the whole world of marathons, like how many people do it. How there were 35,000 runners with a single shared desire, how much of a spectacle the whole thing

. This could have been because I was frozen. No, the best moment was getting the results and finding out that I had finished 907 out of 2841.The worst moment? Running through the largest, deepest puddle in the world at kilometre 41.The biggest surprise? My time

group of elite men came past on the other side having done 22 miles. They got a huge round of applause from the runners alongside me and it reminded me that I was taking part in the same event as them. Fantastic.Worst moment: my calf muscle starting

holding red and green balloons on a stick - I even had time to kiss my daughter, Freya, at six miles.The best thing was finding the Runner's World 10-minute mile pacer. I stuck with her for 20 miles, and this helped me enormously. But then I hit the wall

for organising us at Mile 17! It was great to meet so many other Runner's World forumites, both trotting past (pausing only for a chat and a handful of jelly babies), and lending voice to the cheering.I spent a joyous race handing out baggies of jelly babies