2 of my friends from Dunstable on the left, Lee and John, son and father, ran the whole way together in 2hr59 . . Sam on the right running for Help the Hospice . .

Tring clubmate Geoff on the left . . then Jo (in the black/yellow) and Anette (purple/black) who both managed to not hear me despite my having the loudest voice in London!!

Sarah, another Dunstable friend on the left . . Danny Kay in the blue and yellow - I first ran with him in 1999 - he's still knocking out the marathons (over 300 and countng) and I'm struggling to run a 5k!!

don't know the lady on the left but this is the 3rd race in a row that she's run past me so she clearly has excellent taste when it comes to choosing races! . . on the right, Jo hears me at last!!

several of my friends from Leeds parkrun were running and I missed them all apart from Maria . . Millie (aka Nige), a clubmate from Tring, saw me before I saw him . . Richard, and old friend from Runners World, runs in fancy dress every year and this time it was Richard the Lionheart - I'm looking forward to seeing his Richard the 3rd . .

a few photos of the leading ladies . .

the leading group on the left . . I think number 141 was a pace maker - if not then dropping out where your coach is, is bad planning!!

2nd photo - we've all known how this runner felt!!

I've included the photo on the right because although I'm not sure how efficient her running style is, but I'm amazed that anyone can still kick ass like this after 22 miles!!!

and finally some of the fancy dressed runners . .

not sure what happened to the Smurfs' legs . . assuming they are Smurfs, that is!

in the middle we have the neck and head of the tallest fancy dress ever to run a marathon - to the right is the body holding it up - and boy, did he look fed up when he came back after 22 miles!!

22 miles, and the costumes are looking as tired as the runners . .

in the middle - told you he looked fed up . .

"look at me, look at me" Richard waves at the camera . . and on the right, runs serenely by, content to know that another photographer couldn't resist!!