London marathon - number 60

It is neither big nor clever to run a marathon on a hangover. This is important. Marathons are a bloody long way and whether you've run 1 or 100, they can still bite you on the arse. Must have more respect. Still, I ran an easy 3'36 yesterday so I guess I got away with that one.

I was lucky enough to be at the green start, with "only" a few thousand runners. What this lacked in atmosphere, it made up for with ease of facilities, somewhere to hide from the mercifully brief downpour, and seconds to get over the startline. The celebrities were being paraded around in their paddock, a bit like animals in a zoo. "Ooh look Beryl, do you know what that one is?" "That's a lesser spotted Branson, Mavis." I didn't recognise any of them. It was great to bump into Aly from the 10 in 10, Mel, Sarah I ran some of Abo with, another Fetchie Sarah in her gingerbread man outfit and some other 100ers, it actually felt like quite a small race until a mile or so down the road when we merged with the blue start.

I wasn't bothered about times today as I knew it was going to be crowded, so was very relaxed about being held up, it was only meant to be a comfortable run and a 3'45. I wasn't paying much attention to my garmin, so was pleased to get through half way in 1'46, quicker than intended but it felt easy. The atmosphere was incredible, I used to hate all that cheering and screaming as it's a bit deafening and distracting, but if you're out for a good day then it's much easier to appreciate it. Some of the bands and PA systems belting out music were pretty special too, lots of spine tingling moments, you felt like you were part of something very precious. There was a huge bunch of supporting Fetchies at 13 at a self styled Fetchpoint which was simply superb, it was a tighter, slower patch along there, but I made sure I did a whole lot of whooping and arms in the air, didn't want them to miss me after all. Then it was an easy cruise through the next 9 miles until I got back to them, catching up with Dave and giving him some good-natured abuse, spotting some stray Fetchies on the Isle of Dogs, loving the drummers at Canary Wharf and really appreciating the brief spell of calm at 20/21m.

Legal highs.....

It was just brilliant to see Fetchpoint again, and I had to stop to give Frances a hug. Given they had given up their entire day to support us, the least I could do was stop to appreciate it. The cheers were great. Then it was only a couple of miles before I saw Mark at 24.5 and stopped for another hug. I dropped about a minute arsing about saying hello which cost me a PB but that was entirely fine, there's plenty of time for PBs and it's not often you see so many great mates during a marathon. By the time I'd finished looking out for Fetchies, there was only 1 1/2 miles left which is kind of when my race started, I hadn't been thinking about anything other than Fetchpoint until then!

I looked at my watch as I ran under a mile marker and it told me that if I put my foot down I'd squeak another PB. Then I saw Sarah again and yelled "come with me!" as I caught her, whoo, we were going to blat the last 1.2 miles! Then I passed the 25 mile marker. Oops, the one I thought was 25 miles was 40k. I wasn't going to get a PB so I'd started an entirely pointless kick rather early but now, having displayed such exuberance, I had to keep it going or I'd look like a right wally. That kick did end up with me coming in only 33 seconds slower than Brighton last weekend so it was still a very very nice result, plus by 6pm my legs would have been more than happy to run another one. If it weren't for all the booze that is, there must have been 30 or 40 of us piled in the pub and it was fantastic to celebrate so many great performances. Seeing everyone in there reminded me why running is such a leveller, you get people of all ages, from dentists to train drivers, from 2'40 racing snakes to 6 hour true endurance runners, all improving themselves, discovering unrealised levels of grit, motivation and strength, and all achieving the same shiny medal. Fabulous.

After you've run a marathon and necked several pints, a favourite parlour game is Punch My Abs. Don't try this at home, boys and girls..........