The time has come, after months of wait and (crappy) training, the 2023 London Marathon Running Show has opened. It’s not out there in the future anymore, it is at the Excel London, just outside Custom House tube station… great! Argh! Yahoo! Fear!
I made my way to the London Marathon Expo on Friday around mid morning. I had thought about going on Thursday evening after work to avoid the queues, but got lazy… I went to the Berlin Marathon Expo on Friday as well and it was a pain, but not terrible, so tried the same.
The London Marathon Expo is at the Excel London, in East London… kind of a trek in theory for a SW London spoilt guy like me, but the trip to the unknown, scary Eastern lands was actually quick and convenient thanks to Crossrail or, as we are now supposed to call it, the Elizabeth Line. The train was packed with excited runners, it kind of made the experience start early.
The Excel London hosts a number of different events, so, compared to my previous marathons (Manchester and Berlin), the experience is not as wholesome and whole-encompassing as it could be: the venue is not fully TCS-LM branded and until you get to the dedicated stand there is very little to see that relates to our event
Bib pick-up was incredibly fast and efficient: I was there around 11.30am and most stands had max 1 or 2 people waiting, the one i picked had no-one. Barcode and photo ID were scanned and checked in 10 seconds (DO NOT FORGET EITHER OF THEM) and you are done: bib and a plastic bag for the arrival items.
Off you go then to the London Marathon Expo proper, which forces you to go through the New Balance merch area… yeah, I could not stop myself from buying some crap. You dont really want to run an Abbot Major without the items to brag about it for months or years. Queues were more painful here, but I probably got through it in about 10 minutes.
Special mention for the ‘run like Eliud’ treadmill, which let people try to match his pace for 400m. I did not try it, but the couple of runners i watch try were suffering. A lot… Eliud only had to keep going at that pace 100x longer, easy 😉
Hoka, On, Altra, Garmin, Theragun, Coros, Aftershokz were some of the brands I saw while browsing through the various stands… similar to most other expos, nothing unique to be honest.
So we are now at less than 48 hours.The London Marathon running show is behind. My training cycle was abysmal. My fitness level is the worst it has been in years… and yet, I will get to that finish line, I have to. I want to.
Good luck everyone, enjoy the nerves, have fun and accept that you will be slower than a minion, a few T-Rex and probably also a few Rhinos 🙂
Update: you know what, I got through that finish line. The London Marathon Expo at Excel London was a great start to what was a wonderful experience, as documented in my London Marathon 2023 blog post
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