Just arrived from the marathon. Wwwwhat? You ran 42km? Exactly, and I did so in 5hours 20minutes. Not as close as the world record, which is a little less than 2h4m, but not so bad for my first marathon :)
I've decided to participate in the marathon to see if I can achieve the goal to reach the end, plus experience all these feelings we've heard from the long distance runners. I also like the events that reward is in participating, and not necessarily in being the first.
On the other side, I really dislike big events, the type that is organized by city mayors, municipalities etc. I find some of these events as a joke, or even worst as an insult. I do believe my claims are not extreme. It is just that such events create a false image that these entities care about sports, or the quality of life of their citizens. See this for example:
Every year, the municipality of Athens is organizing a bicycle tour of Athens. RRRRRight...Athens is one of the (few?) cities in Europe that is really bicycle un-friendly. You can hardly cycle in the city center, there are no lines for bicycles, the traffic problem is huge, while locals and visitors believe that most of the city is made for cars (and not people, which is what one would expect). Now people that organize every now and then events like the cycling tour of Athens, manage to deceive some people (unfortunately) that they're doing progress towards making Athens the city to cycle, or enjoy a walk, or whatever they use as a slogan, at the very same moment that they don't do ANYTHING on improving the quality of life for people living in this town (let's face it, they simple don't care, or they don't have the guts to change anything in a better direction).
This was just an example, of why I argue that such big events (as the cycling tour) are not exactly for my taste. I highly approve grass roots attempts, like what this cycling group is doing in Greece, again for the same issue (cycling).
Now regarding marathon itself...a really nice experience, really tough, especially if you've not been training for some time. I suggest that you try yourself some day :)
It's amazing to see people that are over 50 or 60 to run 42 km's, really impressive. People on the streets also that shout 'bravo, bravo', and 'keep on!', give you some strength to continue, that very same time where you feel exhausted and ready to abandon :)