London Marathon 2026 preparation by Martin Davey

I ran the London Marathon in 2006. Back then, 119,000 people applied to run the 26th London Marathon and 47,200 were given a place. In simple terms, for every five applicants, two got in. Looking back, that seems unbelievable. There was no EXPO, nothing to buy, and I didn’t even own a running watch (so no device telling me how badly I was training) or heart rate monitor. My running shoes cost about £35, and my bib number and pack arrived through the post. I ran 3:44:40 — I was disappointed on the day, but now I realise it was actually pretty good.

Fast‑forward to this year: 840,000 people applied for the London Marathon, with just 17,000 ballot places available. That means the odds were roughly 1 in 50. Apparently, that’s the same odds as being pooped on by a pigeon. I’d pretty much accepted that I’d never run London again… only for my name to be pulled out of the hat at the Christmas party. Things have changed a lot in twenty years. I already know my bib number (49371) and my exact start time (09:58). London is even hosting a new 5K event on the Friday evening in Battersea Park — although I can’t make it as we land back from the US that morning.

Training has gone well (even if Garmin disagrees). Becky has a place in the Boston Marathon the week before, so I foolishly agreed to train with her. She found her plan on the Boston Marathon website and it’s really tough — lots of hills, lots of efforts, and high mileage. Our long runs have taken us up to Clee Hill, which at least gives us a downhill finish. I definitely prefer ultra training: we stop at Brew in Clee Hill for cake before heading home. No such luck with marathon training.

That said, with three weeks to go, I feel well prepared. My goal from the start was to try to beat my time from twenty years ago. If I can do that, I’ll be absolutely delighted and not feel quite so old!