

There are four start zones-Blue, Red, Yellow and Green-and within those there are pens for runners expecting certain times. Your London Marathon start time and place will have been determined in advance. Just relax and make sure you’re in the right pen. This can be stressful if you’re not expecting it.

It can take anywhere from two to 40 minutes to actually cross the line after the gun sounds because of the number of people filing through. You can also opt for the tried-and-tested “black bin bag” approach, if you have no clothes you’re happy to donate. There will be charity collection points around the start so you can wear old clothes to stay warm and then give them away before you start.
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Even if the weather looks great it’ll still be chilly when you’re in your shorts and T-shirt waiting for the start. Once you’ve dropped off your bag at the race you’ll probably still have an hour or so to wait before you start running. Oh, and you'll probably need to go two or three times before the race starts. Chances are by the time you make the front you’ll be grateful you did. Even if you don’t think you need to go, get into the queue when you can. That’s a lot of pre-race nerves, which leads to a lot of pre-race dashes to the Portaloos. More than 40,000 people will be running the London Marathon. You don’t want to be trying to access it on your phone as the signal strains under the demands of the crowds. Just make sure you download the final instructions to your phone before leaving for the start. In the past, runners received a magazine containing all the details you needed to get to the start line, including relevant train times-but in a bid to become more sustainable, the race organizers now email these details and put them on the event website.
