I can't wait...

Another rejection jacket...

Hoping for fourth time lucky in 2013...

Good luck for next year

Thanks! Are you going to have a go at entering for 2013?

Sympathies

No 2 daughter got rejected also. She was planning to run the Paris marathon earlier this year but a month before she got a dreadful injury and had to pull out of that

2013 perhaps

boo hiss

Hope so, Ayshah. Sympathies from here too.

Oh no will keep fingers crossed for 2013.

Me too : and thanks for your sympathy Louise, and for everyone else's too.

Sorry about this, Baz...

Aw thanks, C. I shall try again for next year...and the years that follow...

Aww - can't believe you missed out again! Better luck next time.

Entered the ballot this lunchtime for the 2013 running...

Anyone else entered it?...

Fingers crossed 2013 is your year.

Thanks, CJB!

Me? Enter the London Marathon? Hahahahahahahahahaha! I ran a bath yesterday and came last!

A friend ran it this year - 5h 21, including a loooong slow break when an old calf injury kicked in. Not a great time but she was delighted to have finished, and is even more delighted with the large amounts of sponsorship she's received so far.

Another friend who's run it before has entered the ballot for next year's run, so fingers crossed that my marathon-crazy chums will get to cross the finish line together in 2013

Me! me! me!
I need a challenge. Hope I get a place. Daughter also entered ballot ..fingers crossed

Fingers crossed for you, Ayshah - I'll let you know if I've got a place!

The London Marathon may be a great international event, and given the scale of it, it is very well run, but for the runner there are many more enjoyable events, which either have many fewer entrants, or follow a more scenic course.

Drawbacks of the London event:

Standing room only on transport to the start line.

Unless you are an elite runner it takes several minutes from the soudnig of the start signal, to actually crossing the start line.

There are so many entrants that (once more, unless you are an elite runner) for the first 3 or 4 miles it is impossible to run freely. All you can do is shuffle with the crowd at about half your usual cruising speed.

The section around Docklands is really boring, and you don't feel like you are making any progress.

The cobbled sections are tough on the feet and legs.

There are a few prats with hosepipes en-route that think it is funny to hose down the passing runners. [Or do they really think they are being helpful and that we want a sudden performance-sapping cooling, especially at the cost of running in blister-inducing wet shoes for the next few miles]

If you get a minor injury the medical helpers have no sense of urgency to get you back on the course and running again. They can easily cost you 20 or 30 minutes off your time.

It is also a pain that it is expected of you to get sponsorship for some charity or other. This is OK if you run a marathon now and again, but if you regularly run them, and you are in it for the running, then not only is the added burden of finding sponsors something you could do without during training, but also there is a limit to the number of times you can expect your friends and acquaintances to dip into their pockets.

I live close enough to the start line, against the flow of most entrants, for this not to be an issue.



Not bothered!



Again, not bothered!



It's considerably more interesting now than it was, more crowds and more 'scenery'.



I'll give you that one



The risk of this is relatively low in recent years.



I'm not bothered about loss of time, and it's a bit unkind to say that about the medics, in my opinion, sorry...



One a year is plenty for me!

I've run the London Marathon twice 2003 & 2004 (had to check on the medals to get the years right!) and have to say it rates amongst the most amazing experiences of my life - if a bit tough. As a club runner I guess I didn't get the hold-ups VH2 experienced at the start but it isn't really about the time anyway. The crowds are brilliant and just the fact that London has been closed down to allow you to run on the streets is quite something. Just hearing the theme tune brings up the goose bumps still. If you get a place in the ballot you don't have to do it for a charity either, but a lot of people are happy to give a bit to encourage you.
So good luck with the entry barry-clari hope you get in - just getting a place is a big achievement (and then the training starts.....)

Fingers crossed for you both

The results of the ballot come out in early October...