Back in April this year my wife and I ran the TCS London Marathon. This was a bucket list race for us as neither my wife and I were runners when we both lived in the UK and once we starting marathoning it was a goal to be able to run such an historic and high profile race.
I will back up for a bit. This was never anything we had set out to do other than back in 2011 I tried to register for this event to be able to run it for my 40th birthday but I didn’t get through the lottery. This time we did not need to go through the lottery as we participated as part of one of the approved London Marathon travel partners (RunBuk). This came about as we had a family event in London to attend and my sister mentioned it was the same weekend as the London Marathon…this got my wheels turning and my wife was up for the event so we registered together through the group and started planning with lots of excitement. The sign up for the 2025 race opened up almost immediately after the finished of the 2024 event and we jumped at the opportunity knowing if we waited we may miss out on the chance.
This would actually be quite a logistical exercise for us as as when we looked at the calendar my wife had a work event that ran right up to the marathon weekend. This would mean she would not be able to fly into London until the day before the race. I would be flying out a day earlier and would need to go the expo to pick up both of our race packets. What we do for the sake of running…
As we were attending a family event, I flew out with my boys on Thursday night before the race with the plan to visit the expo on Friday (before the craziness of the weekend). We had an easy flight and made our way to our hotel near Waterloo Station. We were staying right by the London Eye and across the river from the Houses of Parliament. This would be a factor for us in returning after the race. The travel company had chosen this location due to its easy access to transport, to the starting location and the ease of returning after the race. It was a great location and a wonderful hotel. We had a family suite so there was plenty of space for all of us.
Once checked in to the hotel and dropping off all our luggage we grabbed something to eat before heading to the expo at ExCel London. It took us about 35 minutes and gave us a short window to get off our feet. What I did not realize at the time was that race aimed to break the record for the number of marathoners to finish a marathon (over 56,000 runners). As a result the expo was fairly busy.
As we were still missing one of our party, I had to pick up the race packets for both my wife as well as myself. The race instructions provided clear details on how to pick up a race packet for someone else. Interestingly the pick up was straight forward. Usually at a race you go to pick up your race bib by last name or by number and head to the relevant desk. Here, we were directed to the first available desk and the volunteers printed and electronically tagged the bibs as you provided them your details. What a great idea. I guess due to the size of the race this was the most efficient way to do this but it made checking in easy.
From the check in desk we headed through the expo over to pick up the race shirts for the event. The shirt pick up was on the far side of the expo hall guaranteeing that everyone had to go through the full expo floor. Here is a tip…the sizes listed are universal. My wife and I thought based upon previous experiences, European sizes would be smaller than US sizes so we both opted for a larger size than normal. They were not ‘European’ sized and while not able to change down to a smaller size they still fit, if just a little big. One thing I missed, and only discovered after we left the expo from other peoples’ social media posts, was the list of participants. It would have been great to find my wife’s and my name on the participants wall. I blame the jet lag.
On our way through the expo we stopped in the official merchandise area which was really busy. My boys helped pick things out for both my wife and me and we used the resources we had to take pictures and send over to my wife to review and ‘approve’ before I paid. My boys went ahead into the expo to look around while I took pictures around the area before heading into the expo hall and meeting up with them. They found a place for a quick massage. It’s hard work being a non-runner at a race expo!!!
Following the expo we went into Central London for a bite to eat and some tourist activities before heading up to North London to meet with our family. A fun day but very tiring (not all of us slept on the flight over).
Saturday was mainly spent with our family and waiting for my wife to arrive. She travelled up to North London and we were all reunited and excited about the rest of the weekends activities. We planned to get a fairly early night and my sister walked us to a local Italian restaurant where we had a really nice pre-race dinner before traveling back to our hotel to get an early night.
Our boys spent some time investigating the area while my wife and I got our gear set out for the next day. As the race started later in the morning (my start time was 10:40 and my wife’s start time was 11:00am) we were able to get a decent amount of sleep that night.
As we had more family time scheduled for the Sunday our boys would not have the opportunity to come out and spectate for us, so they planned a day of sightseeing before heading up to meet with the family. They got up early with us and had a really full day. Good for them. It was their first time in London for almost 10 years and they are old enough to be independent and they did a great job navigating the London Underground on their own.
My wife and I prepared for the race and headed down to the lobby to meet with the tour group and coordinate heading to the train to get to our starting corrals. This is a really big race (56,000 as I mentioned earlier) and in addition to having different start times, my wife and I also had different starting locations. My wife was starting in the blue area at Blackheath and I was starting in the red area at Greenwich. We were advised to travel together to Blackheath and I could then walk a little further to Greenwich which was not too far away but it would have been a different station and train line for me to use had we not been advised by the tour group on how to travel to the starting area.
It was made clear before the expo that it was not possible to change corral or start times so as we had different starting times I planned to hold back to start at 11am when my wife’s corral would be setting off. Based upon the information in the race guide, all the starting areas (there were 5) and corrals merged around mile 3 so we planned to meet around there as were should have all been starting at the same time. Just to jump forward, the merge was actually after mile 3 and thankfully we both had our phones to connect so we met up at mile 4 instead. Funnily enough my wife was 7 minutes ahead of me but we both had the same time on our watches (she had paused her watch when she arrived at mile 4).
I left my wife in her starting location and made my way to mine. It was well laid out with clearly marked gear drop locations, plenty of space to move and stretch out and plenty of bathrooms for all participants. They were very methodical in shuffling everyone into the starting corrals. There were three entrances and once a group moved off they updated it with the next scheduled corral. It was all based upon the number/bib information and the volunteers were very clear to confirm you showed your bib to make sure you were in the right starting area and in the right corral. You could drop back, like I did, not forward. Also, if you were in the wrong starting areas, for example red but with a blue bib, you would be turned away. This is probably for means of people flow for 56,000 runners.
Finally it was time to load into the corral. This was a pre-loading area and we had to wait until the prior group were on their way before they would let is in to the starting chute. Once allowed through the first area we were held into another area before finally being let into the chute. There was still a decent walk to the starting line but eventually we made it there.
Once the horn went and we started it was such a joyful moment. What I noticed from the very beginning, as we ran through the early stages of the race and through local neighborhoods, was that there were people out supporting us almost from the first step. We ran through the local streets and people were outside their houses cheering on runners. This continued throughout the race. It was incredible. I do not think I have ever been part of a race that had crowds lining the whole route.
The early miles breezed by supported by the crowds as we went through local streets which were a mix of residential and small town, almost village like high streets. As we got closer to the merge point it was getting busier as the streets opened up (you can now see why they had to split up the mass of runners in the early stages).
From what I had read and understood, the merge point was just after mile 3 which is where my wife and I planned to meet up. It actually was a bit further than 3 miles, while the runners merged, there was still some barricades separating us all. Eventually and closer to mile 4 we fully merged and as the crowd swelled but my wife was easy to spot as she was waiting my the 4 mile marker. Miles 1 through 6 were fairly flat (actually, most of the course is flat) and although the early miles were congested, the course opened up for all the runners.
It was already a warm day and a late start. There were hoses spraying water on the runners every few miles and some of the local fire station as also lent a hand spraying water over runners which was great. What my wife and I noticed was that water stops were not as plentiful as you see in some of the other races we have participated in. Water was not given in cups but in small plastic bottles. There was clear signage for recycling of the bottles but similar to our experience in Athens, the small bottles were handy and we held on to them between water stops so we had more than just a quick sip. As the day got warmer we would hold onto the bottles as long as we could and pour them over our heads.
The route of the marathon takes us along the bank of the River Thames, although through the crowds in the streets you could not necessarily see how far away you were from the river. You knew you were close to the river based upon the names of the many pubs lining the route. They all had a a nautical or British naval themed name. However, as we approached the Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark clipper ship it was clear where we were in relation to the river. The course had some amazing sights and experiences.
From my 7 through mile 12 we were still on the South Bank of the river and running through the neighborhoods surrounded by pubs, loud cheering crowds and many DJs. We headed into Rotherhithe which was a bit quiter as it was mainly residential neighborhoods we ran through and in some places it became a little narrower to run through, but there were still many people out supporting us.
Then as we approached the halfway mark the crowds started getting louder and louder. We were approaching Tower Bridge (the half way mark is just over the bridge). Wow. What can I say about the views, the crowd support and just the overall experience of running up to, and crossing Tower Bridge. It is an iconic landmark of London and an amazing part of the race. The sky was a clear blue and the crowds were so amazing as we ran over the bridge which was lined with spectators.
After crossing the bridge we turned right and passed over the half way marker where we started the road to Canary Wharf (the business district of the City of London). This is a mostly out and back part of the race where we would see some faster runners coming back the other side of the road as we would ran through the neighborhoods surrounding this side of the river. There were many tall buildings around as we approached the business district but our GPS devices were able to hold their signal without wildly deviating our route or distances. While the crowds were smaller over here (as it is not too residential) there were still plenty of people out here cheering us along. There was some twists and turns in this area, some narrow streets and open spaces but it was so fun to see the scenery around here.
We were following along the river still as we headed around the City and back towards the final part of the race. As we approached the last 10K of the race course support seemed to ramp up. As we were heading back from the business district the streets widened and opened up with bigger crowds throughout. At mile 21 we ran through ‘Rainbow Row’ which was so loud, flamboyant and fun to run through. It was like a mile long party and was so uplifting at this part of the race.
Once past Rainbow Row we were now on the part of the out and back where we were passing some of the later runners so it was great to be able to cheer them on and provide some support knowing what they had ahead of them over the next few miles.
Now we headed up towards Tower Hill and past the Tower of London. Honestly, you probably could not match this race for views. The crowds were so dense and loud at this point it was like a wall of sound. We only had a couple of miles left and the sights were making us so excited as we ran along the Embankment towards the finish line. On the left side, over on the other side of the river you could see the London Eye coming into view and up ahead you could see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. This was pumping us up as we knew we were close to the last mile. Again, the crowds, the views….nothing could beat this.
As we turned right, with Parliament on our left, we headed up through St. James Park along Birdcage Walk and headed up towards Buckingham Palace. We stopped to take some pictures and fully soak up the atmosphere and excitement before finally turning right and heading up The Mall for the last few hundred yards to the finish line.
Wow, what an amazing experience. We both received our medals and made our way down The Mall to grab our gear from the trucks. Interestingly, while we were given a bottle of water, there was no post race food or electrolytes at the finish line. In the race program it had advised us to bring something to eat so thankfully we had prepared with some snacks in a race gear bag. This could be due to the limited space on The Mall and the sheer number or runners taking part that they wanted to clear the area of runners.
We headed over to walk back to our (thankfully) close hotel. It was still a good 15-20 minute walk from the finish line, through Horse Guards Parade and then back along the course past the Houses of Parliament back to our hotel. As the race was still going on and the crowds were intense we had to ask a policemen how to cross the road. We had to go back on ourselves a bit to find the Underground Station entrance that had a tunnel we could use to get ‘under’ the route and to the other side of the road. It took us longer than the planned 15-20 minutes but it was great to be able to keep moving our legs.
We stopped to take a picture with our medals with the London Eye in the background. This was where my wife and I had our first date back in 2000. Almost 25 years later we were here having run the London Marathon. It felt amazing.
Having made it back to our hotel, and with a family obligation to attend, it was a blur with a quick shower and dressing up before we headed out to our event for the evening. While we did not wear our medals to the event, everyone knew why we were a little late. Our boys had taken a car service earlier in the afternoon to represent us, but it was great to finally be with everyone to celebrate.
Our next day was spent doing some sightseeing with our boys and spending more time with our family before we had to head home on Tuesday morning and back to work and school. It was a whirlwind trip.
What an incredible race. What an incredible experience. One we shall remember for a long time. Bucket list item checked off. Where to next?
philly2goofy 