Olympic men's marathon

Great weather for spectators, but slightly warm for runners. It was another wonderfully organized, friendly event with massive crowds.


These guys fly. It's salutary to remember that the guys at the back of the field who appear to be simultaneously dying and running in slow motion are actually running a 2hr 40 pace, which would be a winning time at most local events.

Best moment of the day was a group of rowdy but well-behaved Spaniards chanting "arigato! arigato! arigato!" to a big group of Japanese, and then dressing them up in their red and yellow wigs. Then they started chanting "Spanish weather! Spanish weather!" and "Thank you, London! Thank you, London!"...and magnanimously even "Team GB!" once or twice. One of them had a race on the actual course with a volunteer, before going on to mock propose to another volunteer. A brilliant moment, while we waited for the skinny Africans to fly by on their third lap.