Today was marathon day in London and 38,000+ runners and walkers took to the streets to run from Blackheath to the Mall in London via some sightseeing along the way.

I hadn’t entered the marathon this year but decided that I would join a few others in the “Reverse London Marathon” which is an informal event that starts at 2am at the finish of the marathon and follows the marathon route back to the start.

The idea was that runners (and me as a walker) would start at 30 minute intervals from 2am through to 4:30am depending on their expected pace, and we would all finish at Blackheath at about 8am.

About 200 runners were expected but the weather put paid to that – cold and wet but calm.  Not bad for running but I am sure that many people that were thinking of doing the run changed their minds when they either saw the weather forecast of woke up in the middle of the night and looked out their window.

I woke up when the alarm went off at 12:15am after just three hours sleep, had breakfast, and drove the 35 minutes to Battersea Park where I parked the car and walked up to St James Park where the run would be starting.  When I got there I found that about 20 runners had departed at 2am and another 15 were getting ready for a 3am start, but I would be the only person starting at 2:30am – I was planning a 5 ½ hour walk.

So I trotted off by myself and initially I enjoyed the walk, taking a few photos, and seeing some of the nightlife as I headed east along Embankment.

But it wasn’t long before it started to rain again and I very quickly got cold.  I hadn’t dressed as warmly as I should have.  And by the time I got to Canary Wharf I had already decided to call it a day and walk back along the Thames to Tower Bridge and from there, back to the car at Battersea Park.

It had more or less stopped raining but I was wet through, and cold.  And I couldn’t face the idea of walking to Blackheath and then spending up to an hour travelling back to the car via bus and tube in wet clothing.

I also didn’t want to risk getting a cold with the Thames Path 100 mile race next weekend.

In total though, I ended up with a 21 mile walk and was back home in time to watch the TV coverage of the marathon.  Not a bad way to spend the day.

And I took plenty of photos as I walked along the Thames: