Watching the Olympic Marathon

Having failed to manage to get tickets for the Olympic park for any sport or even for the Para-Olympic Athletics we decided to take the kids to watch the Mens marathon. Initially were were on the Mall, but even at 09.45 it was really busy so we made the decision to head towards the tube and Leadenhall Market. However as we headed towards St. James's tube we saw lots of space on Bird Cage Walk and the bigger plus was that it was in the shade!

The kids had plenty of space to play while they waited and they developed a game involving balancing on the white lines that would normally denote the lanes on the road. They both were really excited when the pack came through the first time, but then weren't overly impressed with the wait to see them the second time. But once the pack spread out the wait between the back markers and the front became much much less.

Having since seen on the television, how busy some parts of the course were, I think we did really well. We were at the front of the barriers and other than a slightly rude German who, during the last lap, seemed oblivious to the fact that there was a little girl's head at the same level as his elbow.

William loved waving his flag, although he did like poking me with it too. I did have shots of the camera men on the car following the leaders, Lee Merian, our first man home and the lead pack on the second lap, along with various family photos, but I really liked the way the flag and his arm are framing his face.

London 2012, I may not have got the tickets I would have liked to have got, but I have loved every minute that I have seen and I don't know what I am going to do with my evenings next week.