Blood, sweat and beers at the London Marathon

I did the London Marathon in about four hours last Sunday. Not bad, eh? It was my second one, and I didn't really train very hard at all. No excuses, I should've known what I let myself in for. But despite the very real risk of getting lens and gear envy, it's always a fun day out. Next year, I'll probably aim to get there earlier, and leave a bit later: I'd like to get to a better spot in time to catch the wheelchair guys, and stay at least until a rhino comes past.

About 10mins after I arrived in Canary Wharf, David Weir came past.

At that point he was well ahead of Josh Cassidy, who took the title in the end. Unfortunately, I heard afterwards, Weir had a double puncture. And after the second one, at the 20-mile mark, he just couldn't keep his lead. (I suppose it's like running with a cramp.) I was really hoping to see the legendary South African athlete Ernst van Dyk win the title. Ernst was a contemporary of mine at Stellenbosch University, and a well-known sight on campus - almost always out training. Apparently he often raced time trials in the hallways of his student hostel, Helshoogte. But it was obvious that he wasn't going to win the London Marathon. Not this year, anyway. Perhaps he had not yet fully recovered from the Boston Marathon which he won for a record ninth time a week earlier.

Shortly after that the elite women came past. Britain's Mara Yamauchi, last year's runner-up and one of the favourites to win this year, had a disappointing race and eventually finished in tenth place.

But, as the Telegraph tells us, at least she won the travel marathon (aka a "six-day journey from hell") to make it to the capital on time.

I then headed over to South Quay to meet up with friends. Among the masses, we managed to spot a friend, as well as Richard Branson, Natalie Imbruglia, the Royal caterpillar, a few leprechauns, a giraffe and the gingerbread man. But after about 90mins of watching waves of people coming past, I felt so dizzy and exhausted, we had to abandon the race.