I was going to do a quick post yesterday morning before I set off. Just a sort of, oh god, here it is, wish me luck, best of luck to everyone, sort of thing.

As it was, I was too busy throwing up...again, nerves have really got to me this year and I've not managed to keep much down since Friday last week. I'm having no such problems today, but I think this might have contributed to my painful final 5 or 6 miles on Sunday.

Anyway, enough of the unpleasantness, let's focus on the day.

Before getting into the nitty gritty of my experience as a runner, a summary of the day - the organisation, the atmosphere, the crowds, etc.

Summarising properly (which is really not my style), I can characterise the day as absolutely fantastic. From the first immersion into the event at Preston Park - plenty of loos, plenty of smiles, everything clearly signposted for minimum stress - ably assisted by the weather, I for one felt properly set up for the ordeal ahead.

Then, the course itself. Really, really nice! A bit of up and down right at the start around Preston Park, to get all the various muscles, such as they are, limbered. Then a whole lot of flatness with a few barely-worth-mentioning inclines through to the finish. A joy, frankly. With the light coastal breeze along the clifftops to the East, the New Church Road section in total shade, plenty of water stops and the fuel stops in all the right places. Great, great marshalls making sure everyone got what they needed (and shouting encouragement). Loo stops also conveniently placed - every 9 miles I required a place to stop, and there a place was.

And the crowds. So many! So close! Not crushed in, but with loads and loads of space to move about. Well-controlled, but able safely to cross the course at various points, again with the aid of the fantastic marshalls. Noisy, smiley and just brilliant. I really can't say enough good things about the course, the organisation, the atmosphere, the people. The event was brilliantly and meticulously planned, 99% successfully executed and something the organisers, sponsors and participants should be genuinely proud of.

That 1%, not even really a fly in the ointment, just things that could be improved for perfection to be achieved. We were late getting started - having moved into the various colour-coded start corrals and got all adrenalinish, we had to stand a while. Um. Shoreham Harbour is really, really boring and there were no spectators around there to keep the motivation going - crowds are such a big part of the experience and a source of so much mental and physical encouragement. I don't know whether this was because it's private property (in which case, companies concerned, just get over it for a day a year, alright) or just because it's nobody's first choice of vantage point (in which case, can I suggest perhaps a beer tent or something similarly attractive to large numbers of people who really only need to be able to shout).

What else? Well. There were some bits of the course where a lot of bottles had bounced off kerbs back into the runners' path and could have caused a trip hazard that perhaps the marshalls should have been tasked with clearing. Uh. In the evening (6 o'clockish, after several hours in the pub) the bus countdown thingummies were showing the times of buses heading East on the Westbound side of the road, which caused confusion, then merriment. This was probably something to do with the earlier contraflow on Church Road. That said, the street was clean as anything and you'd never know anything had happened. THAT's organisation.

I understand the council makes a decision in a couple of weeks on whether to sign off on a repeat of this event next year. It would be an act of monumental stupidity not to, but councillors being politicians, I think it's worth actually saying so in black and white at every opportunity. I've done it here, but that counts for 0 quite frankly. Anyone clever enough to set up a Facebook group, Twitter hashtag or something communal and social media-ish so likeminded people can make their voices heard - please do it and let me know!!!!!

Finally, and very personally, I was particularly touched that my cousin, who's the reason I do these things, was well enough to join the happy throng and make herself VERY heard in encouraging me on my way round. Like many others, I ran to raise money for Charity. If you'd like to sponsor me, my fundraising pages is Justgiving/Lee-Colgate. And the young lady's mum has written a very nice post on her company blog to support the difference that your donations, whoever you choose to support. Pop across here if you'd like to read that.

I recorded detailed mile-by-mile timings and everything to try to give this post some body, but I think it's already quite long enough. Suffice to say, I was doing great, well on the way to beating my PB. But then, around 21 miles (on the boring bit with no spectators), I pulled up with appalling cramps. In both legs. In all muscles in both legs. Loads of others appeared to start suffering on this section, too, and I'm sure it's at least in part due to the crowd-freeness referenced above. Anyway, I 'ran' the last five miles desperately trying to avoid flexing both legs in the way that had triggered the initial cramp attack. Since this was different in each leg, I'm sure this looked fairly strange, but I simply didn't care.I missed my target time, but I enjoyed this marathon more than either of the London ones I've completed. I'm so impressed with the way it was managed, on a par at least with London - and that's got decades' more experience behind it - and so proud that the City pulled off such a huge event with such consummate ease. Residents, visitors, everyone who contributed, you should all be proud of yourselves.

This must become an annual event. It just must. I loved it. If you did too, please comment, or do the clever Facebook thing, or something.