The London Marathon

[balli hi]

I had never been along to watch the London Marathon before, and had only ever watched it briefly on TV, so yesterday for the first time ever i went along to have a gander .

During the week my son came home from school and said that the school had been visited by a group of people who were participating in the event, the group intended to run the marathon in a yellow submarine that they had made , and he really wanted to go along to cheer them on , so i dutifully obliged and took him along to the event.

We decided to make our way to Tower Hill and plot up there, upon arrival we made our way over to the south side of tower hill and found a good vantage point , it was a lovely warm day and the crowds had turned out in force , i must say that i was quite taken aback by the carnival sort of atmosphere .... we were treated to the sounds of a childrens school steel band, whom i should add were pretty damn good , all the various charities had turned out in force to vociferously support their runners , and i was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of imagination in the form of costumes adopted by the runners which enhanced the event as a spectacle , it was also humbling to read the various messages that had been written on their vests and tee shirts for the very many worthy charities and in some cases personal causes that they were running to raise money for.

After a short while we made our way further along to lower thames street where we were again treated to some outstanding music , this time a rock band belting out some Dire Straits numbers ( superb :D ) all that was missing was a chair and a lovely cold pint of real ale , After a short while we pushed on again , and this time stopped by what looked to be at least a twenty piece band , with at least a ten piece brass section , Woh what a sound, tremendous , things were going from really good to great , i could'nt get enough , the name of this particular band was GUGGE 2000 , anyway , we again pushed on and eventually made our way to the finish line on the MALL where we took a seat in one of the many stands that had been erected , we sat and watched all the runners , and could see the elation and relief in their faces as they approached the finish line as the crowd cheered them on... One of the biggest cheers was reserved for an old bloke who approached the line holding a piece of string with a birthday baloon attached with the number 80 emblazoned on it , shortly after there came an announcement that Katy Price & Peter Andre were nearby ( Or , TNT " !Removed! Nose & Teeth " & one hit wonder , as i affectionately refer to them as ... still i should'nt be too cynical because they had raised 250 grand for charity , so good on'em for that. we waited patiently for the guys in the yellow submarine but sadly for my son we never got to see them , none the less we both had a thoroughly enjoyable day , and i would recommend the event to anyone , the other thing i should mention as well , is the physical appearance of a lot of the runners , they looked as if they could'nt get up out of a chair , let alone run a marathon , and some were morbidly obese , and yet they still managed to make it across the finish line , So hats off to them as they must have raised tremendous ammounts of money for very worthy causes

[Bizarra]

Sounds like you had a wonderful day It is terrific to think that all those people get up off their butts, go round looking for sponsors & then get out & run it, all to help the less fortunate :D . Gives you a feeling of hope for the world.

Good job it wasn't run here today :( I sat in my car at the front door for ages, waiting for the Father & Mother of a thunder storm to pass, The noise of the Hail Was deafening & the ground was white :o

[balli hi]

Sounds like you had a wonderful day It is terrific to think that all those people get up off their butts, go round looking for sponsors & then get out & run it, all to help the less fortunate :D . Gives you a feeling of hope for the world.

Good job it wasn't run here today :( I sat in my car at the front door for ages, waiting for the Father & Mother of a thunder storm to pass, The noise of the Hail Was deafening & the ground was white :o

Thanks victor we did have a great day , and we intend to go again next year , to think all these years its been virtually on our doorstep ( well almost ) and i've never bothered ... the closest i've ever come to it is sponsoring people .

If i were to sum the marathon up in three words it would be , Entertained , Humbled , Inspired , not necessarily in that order ,

[Phoenix999]

I was once working at Millwall Fire Station when the marathon was run.... blimey that was some years back

I enjoyed the day and was extremely impressed with the effort everyone connected with the event puts into the day. The runners are great people and I cannot speak too highly of them.... they are all totally and utterly mad

There is one thing I know.... there is no way I would ever run it

[Boro Sera]

I'd never enter a marathon.

Apart from the enormous time factors in training and preparation, I couldn't enter an event where I'll be beaten by four guys dressed as Nuns, a Pantomime horse and a Giant Pot Noodle ! :P

[balli hi]

I'd never enter a marathon.

Apart from the enormous time factors in training and preparation, I couldn't enter an event where I'll be beaten by four guys dressed as Nuns, a Pantomime horse and a Giant Pot Noodle ! :P

LoL , did you watch it on tv ?

When you started with " Apart from the enormous " i thought you were going to mention Jordan

I might enter it next year , the plan is if Jordon enters it again , i intend to enter as well and run the entire race backwards just marginally in front of her :P :lol2: :lol2:

[Bizarra]

I'd never enter a marathon.

Apart from the enormous time factors in training and preparation, I couldn't enter an event where I'll be beaten by four guys dressed as Nuns, a Pantomime horse and a Giant Pot Noodle ! :P

LoL , did you watch it on tv ?

When you started with " Apart from the enormous " i thought you were going to mention Jordan

I might enter it next year , the plan is if Jordon enters it again , i intend to enter as well and run the entire race backwards just marginally in front of her :P :lol2: :lol2:

Perv :lol2:

[balli hi]

I'd never enter a marathon.

Apart from the enormous time factors in training and preparation, I couldn't enter an event where I'll be beaten by four guys dressed as Nuns, a Pantomime horse and a Giant Pot Noodle ! :P

LoL , did you watch it on tv ?

When you started with " Apart from the enormous " i thought you were going to mention Jordan

I might enter it next year , the plan is if Jordon enters it again , i intend to enter as well and run the entire race backwards just marginally in front of her :P :lol2: :lol2:

Perv :lol2:

I know but i just can't seem to stops me self :help2: .... Takes one to know one though :P :lol2:

[balli hi]

I'd never enter a marathon.

Apart from the enormous time factors in training and preparation, I couldn't enter an event where I'll be beaten by four guys dressed as Nuns, a Pantomime horse and a Giant Pot Noodle ! :P

LoL , did you watch it on tv ?

When you started with " Apart from the enormous " i thought you were going to mention Jordan

I might enter it next year , the plan is if Jordon enters it again , i intend to enter as well and run the entire race backwards just marginally in front of her :P :lol2: :lol2:

Perv :lol2:

I know but i just can't seem to stops me self :help2: .... Takes one to know one though :P :lol2:

I was just thinking what my costume might be........ Probably just a pair of oversize glasses with eyes on springs.... oh and a postage stamp of course... Whats the stamp for ? i hear you ask... Well its to slap on peter Andre's forehead of course , and send him back to OZ first class !