Expo time

Today was my day to take a trip to the London Marathon Expo  - which is basically mandatory for anyone running the Marathon, as you pick up your race number, kitbag and timing chip here. The Expo is in Excel in the Docklands, which is a bit of a pain to get to. I took a half day to go, as otherwise you'd need to go on a Saturday which is bedlam by all accounts, as all the overseas runners and those travelling from other parts of the UK register then.

The Expo itself is much bigger than I expected, and most of it is designed to try and persuade you to part with your cash for running gear. Every possible type and brand of running clothing, footwear, accessory and nutritional aid is present, and it can all get a little overwhelming - especially if you've not been before.
Personally I think it'd better suited to people who aren't running a marathon in a couple of days. There's no point buying any new gear or trying new energy gels as it's too late, and frankly if you're still looking for race-day advice at this stage then you've not done your prep right! I managed to hold back from spending my cash, though I allowed myself one commemorative item than I'll only wear once I've fnished on Sunday :-)

The Expo is a good place to do some celebrity spotting (said hello to Ronnie O'Sullivan) and to meet some running buddies. I met up with a couple of my Bedfont Lakes parkrun core team (who aren't running the marathon but were there to browse and buy!) and had a confidence boosting chat with my coach Karen.

I also spent a fun hour with parkrun royalty - Danny Norman, Tom Williams, Jo and Paul Sinton Hewitt - and was "inside the ropes" for their Virtual London Marathon Mile relay race against several other teams. This ended with me leaving to catch my train - and when I sat on the train I realised I had taken the wrong backpack :-(

I just escaped from the train and hared back to the Excel before
a) they destroyed my bag in a controlled explosion
b) someone wandered off with my bag ( complete with all my race stuff!)
c) the owner of the bag I had left

Luckily none of those happened - turned out I had accidentally lifted Martin Yelling's bag. Martin is one of the more well known personalities in running, married to Olympian Liz Yelling, co-host of the Marathon Talk podcast etc, so this wasn't exactly the best way to be introduced to him! The look of relief when I sheepishly returned his laptop and media passes was a sight!

So - that's the last big piece of prep. Now it's all about resting and conserving energy before Sunday morning. 60 hours until racetime - it's nearly here!