Hats off to those that do, and incredibly amounts of money are raised every year for various charities, by people of all shapes and sizes, serious runners and those dressed in bizarre costumes.
It must be hard enough to run 26.2 miles, but to do it while carrying a bobsleigh, or wearing a costume that weighs 3 stone, or running in heels is probably something that is peculiarly British.
Where am I going with this? Actually, it goes back to a TV programme I watched on catch up - about the fashion industry's attitude to plus sized women. Here, I'll admit to a vested interest, I'm by no means slim. Neither am I fashion conscious, being the wrong side of 50 to really care that much. But what does annoy me is being unable to find things to fit. There's a general assumption that if you are a size 16 for example, then you're wide and square.
This is even more the case with sports wear, and here is the great anomaly. Everywhere you look, someone or other is spouting off about how 'we' are getting bigger, and how people should get out and exercise. But you try and get sports wear from the major brands in larger sizes. They tend to stop at 16 - and a skimpy 16 at that. Lycra isn't a good look if you're on the larger side, but that doesn't mean you should have to buy men's sports wear. The major supermarkets tend to do larger sizes, but again, they tend to be wide, and in plain colours.
Now, as I've said, I've no intention of running a marathon, but I would like to get fitter, and if my boredom threshold can stand it, I even go to the gym. But I can't be the only person who struggle to find things to wear, without resorting to oversized T shirts.
I hope everyone's managed to finish it, but every year I wonder when I see people struggling 'why don't you just walk?' and this year David Hemery (aged 70) was interviewed and said that at just over 4 miles an hour he'd finish it in 6 hours (ish). I don't know if he finished, I hope he did, who knows, I may walk it one year.
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