STUART TAYLOR gives his own views on the London Marathon
EVERY year I attempt the London Marathon but always end up failing in my quest to reach the finish line.
Is it down to my preparation, I wonder? This year I got up early, had a light but healthy breakfast, and still I "hit that wall" around about the half-hour mark.
Why can't I watch the London Marathon without becoming an emotional wreck?
It's the same every year. I say to myself 'you can do this, stay strong', but my pleas to my over-emotional side always end in failure.
It the sight of all those thousands of people running mainly for charity that gets me every time.
Spotting the 25-stone bloke who you know only normally breaks out into a sweat when walking to his local chippy, but here he is running the marathon for a good cause in what will be a life-changing experience for him.
Then you cop sight of the 84-year-old war hero who is running in his 20th race and I become overwhelmed with guilt as I ram the next chocolate HobNob into my mouth.
So as you can empathise, watching the London Marathon for me is always accompanied by such raw emotion.
This year's event was always going to take on even more emotional attachment due to the horrific events at the Boston Marathon, and it was lovely to see, albeit through the tears, that so many runners and supporters turned out to show a united front in the face of terrorist acts.
I am a firm believer that good will always overpower evil.
Thankfully there were no evil terrorist acts to cause more pain in London, but there was plenty of pain on the faces of Olympic champion Tiki Gelana and wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy as they crashed into each other at a drinks station at the 15km mark.
I am all for recognising disabled athletes on the main stage, be it marathons or any other sporting event, but surely the mere mechanics of blokes in wheelchairs racing at 20mph at the same time as runners is utterly bonkers.
A crash was always going to happen at some point, and yes, I did laugh.
Ethiopian Gelana was taken out big time when she cut across the path of the oncoming wheelchair racers to grab a drink and got more than she bargained for as she felt the full force of Canadian Cassidy, whose chair careered into the side of the drinks table.
Just imagine if you had a situation where, say, David Davies was swimming in an open water event and they started a speedboat race at the same time.
It may make him swim a bit quicker but it's never going to happen, so why not just let the wheelchair race start and possibly finish before the runners? Dim problem.
I have never really understood the point of marathons.
Ok, so I get the deal about why thousands of people would want to raise money for worthy causes, it's a good thing to do and makes you feel good about yourself, but there are less sadistic ways of raising money.
A sponsored creme egg eating competition maybe to see how many a person could eat in one go (seven is my proud record before I ran out).
I once entered the Gorseinon Brisco Fun Run as a teenager, not quite the London Marathon but still a good effort, you would think.
Well it would have been had I made it to the starting line.
You know what it's like. Peer pressure got the better of me. All my mates were entering the race so why should I be any different?
We all entered through the school and the organisers made the fatal mistake of giving all who entered a race T-shirt weeks before the event.
Yes, you are right, all I wanted was the T-shirt. It is with a tinge of embarrassment (not much, mind) that I entered the race and accepted the lovely white and green garment.
As my head of year Mr Llewellyn handed it over and uttered the words: "You should be proud for doing this my good boy", a wave of guilt washed over me far greater than the HobNob moment, because I knew I had no intention of running in the race.
The reasons being... well, one, I couldn't run, and two, it was all about craving that T-shirt and hoping I would look the part.
Talking about looking the part. Women can be so catty can't they? Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir had a go at Katherine Jenkins for wearing sunglasses and tying her hair back, and in my words, looking "totally fit" during the London Marathon.
Bitter Moir hit out through her column that Jenkins was "stealing the limelight" at the event and completing the race "perfectly groomed". Jealousy is such an ugly trait.
Here was a worldwide star running and raising thousands for the Macmillan Cancer charity and her crime in Moir's view is that she stole the limelight by looking perfect in doing so.
My advice to Kath (first name terms, I wish) is keep up the good work, on both counts!
