London Marathon 2026

After seeing quite a few race reports I thought I’d do one for this year’s London marathon. I did several reports for the website back in the day – late 00s early 10s before they died a slow death when facebook took over so it’s good to see them make a return.

This was my 5th London marathon after previously doing it in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2025.

For me the marathon is much more than what happens on the day, it’s about the journey because just getting to the start line is a challenge in itself and this particular journey started on a Tuesday lunchtime back at the start of January. Standing outside my office before starting the first run of the training block taking in my surroundings and thinking I have 16 weeks ahead of me, running in the dark early mornings, in the dark evenings, the prom at night, the joys of winter weather but once you take the first step on that first run then your locked in.

Training for the first few weeks was building up a solid base in the mid 40s miles per week then going into the 50s before into the 60s with a highest weekly mileage of 67. I know some people get into the 70s, 80s, 90s even hit the magical 100 miles per week but that’s never been me, I mean I love running…just not that much ! Also make a point of going to a fitness class at a local boxing gym on a Monday for S&C and don’t tend to run a Friday so stick to running 5 days a week for marathon training (double runs on a Wednesday for some of the block).

Like anyone training for a spring marathon as already noted then you are going to have to put up with winter weather. This year seemed particularly harsh with an easterly wind that seemed to last for 2 months and a sun that never appeared for several weeks ! Going out for your runs in the sh**e weather …it’s all part of the challenge.

I prefer doing my long runs on a Saturday morning to get them out the way with a shorter run on the Sunday of maybe 10 miles. To break up the long run then quite a few of these involved running to Cramond for park run to get a bit of company then running back (aka a park run sandwich) and I find it’s easier doing some faster miles with people around me.

I like to do a half marathon as a warm up before the marathon but having ran both Inverness and Alloa more times than Donald Trump has said a deals going to be done soon I decided to do the Tom Scott 10 mile road race at Strathclyde country park which was 4 weeks before London so ideal. I’d done it once before in 2016. Weather this year was horrific with gale force winds and rain but the actual race went well (had a bonus of picking up a national bronze medal for the v50 category as it was a Scottish championship race) so felt in good shape heading into the final 4 weeks of training. Final long run of 22 miles went well and then it was an easy taper for 3 weeks. I was lucky (or was it sensible training) that I didn’t pick up an injury or had any illness so never missed any planned runs.

Then, before you know it marathon weekend has arrived ! I headed down to London on the Friday morning so I could go to the expo in the afternoon and have Saturday to relax. Always think the expo is like a gathering of some weird religious cult with everyone excited to be running 26.2 miles !

Saturday morning I did Richmond park run which if anyone had been to Richmond park will know how huge it is. The actual park run is just a small corner of the park and it one of the rare ones that is just one loop so no out and back or 3 times round ! Saturday afternoon was a trip to central London for a wee wander then met a mate for Dinner who was also running the marathon.

Sunday morning- marathon day ! Was up before 6 for breakfast of porridge, banana and a bit jam (jam stolen from the premier inn but sure they didn’t mind!). Left the hotel just before 7 and got a tube to central London and then caught the train from Charing Cross to Blackheath (thankfully timed it well to get a seat) and arrived at the start bang on my advised time of 8.15. London has several different start areas and this year I was blue which was a first having previously been red or pink (thankfully never the green one!) Blue is the largest so there were loads of toilets which is just as well as for whatever reason you seem to need to visit the toilet 3 times in 45 mins ! (a marathon starting area is a sure fire cure for constipation!).Having checked the weather forecast all week it was looking good but as my start time of 9.40 arrived the clouds disappeared and the sun was out and you could just sense it was going to be hotter than forecast. I put my bag in the truck and then had a gel 20 mins before my wave start time of 9.40 then just waited for kick off taking in my surroundings thinking back to that Tuesday afternoon in January. Thinking to myself I have done the hard work getting to the start line with over 800 miles of training behind me and only 26.2 miles in front of me ( well 26.4 as you always do a bit extra according to strava!)

The time was I was hoping for between 2.50 and 2.59. With the different start zones you have 3 different courses for the first 3 miles before they all merge.

First mile always feels busy but faster than you think and checked my watch and it was 6.36. I try to avoid checking my watch when I race but for a marathon check it every 5k after the first mile just to make sure I’m not going too fast. 5k, 10k and 15k splits were all good and halfway was 1.25.43 which was bang on. Felt really good at this point but you should as you are running maybe 30-40 secs per mile slower than your normal half marathon pace…it’s the second half which sorts you out ! Was taking a gel every 5 miles and felt fine. The crowds at London are insane with support all the way around with particular hot spots at the Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and the embankment.

As I entered Canary Wharf at around mile 18 I could feel I was slowing a wee bit but nothing serious but by the time I got to mile 23 I knew the last 5k was good to be tough. But it’s just a park run left right ? Yeah a park run after doing 23 miles though ! I had one gel left and thought about taking it but didn’t want to throw it back up so decided against it. Mile 24 has a small climb onto the embankment and then it’s along to Big Ben which always looks further away than it should ! Past Big Ben and along birdcage walk just focusing on the finish. Then it’s past Buckingham Palace on your left hand side and onto the Mall. I’ve always thought it would be nice to finish at the bottom of the Mall but not this time! Finish line couldn’t came quick enough!

Crossed the line and stopped my watch on 2.55.48. Delighted with the time even if I was maybe 2 mins slower on the second half than I wanted but given the heat can’t be too hard on myself.

Post marathon it was meeting a couple of mates in the pub for a drink to swap marathon stories for a few hours before back to the hotel for shower and out for a Sunday roast ! (Tasted even better after the football score).

Train back Monday lunchtime and then once unpacked popped up to Edinburgh’s no 1 chippy for a Lorenzo fish supper special to round off another London marathon weekend !

Someone once said to me running a marathon is like child birth…you say you’ll never do it again but you soon forget about the pain and do it all again ! That was number 14. I was lucky enough to get a GFA time last year at London for Berlin this year so only another 5 months to look forward to doing it all again!

If you made it this far here is a photo at the end…it doesn’t really convey how knackered I actually felt!

Race Report : Michael Fullerton