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Your support makes all the difference.Tens of thousands of runners set off on the London Marathon today.
Fun runners, charity fundraisers and those in fancy dress joined professional athletes in tackling the 26.2-mile course.
The elite women began at 9am and were followed by the elite men and the bulk of the 35,000-strong crowd at 9.45.
The runners left Greenwich Park on their way east past Woolwich Royal Artillery barracks before winding back to cross the river at Tower Bridge.
The course will take them around Docklands to the City and across the finishing line on the Mall.
The weather was warm and bright, with temperatures of 12C (54F) expected to rise to a maximum of 16C (61F) by around 2pm.
Former glamour model Katie Price, running for children's charity Vision, told the BBC she had already suffered a knee injury before the race.
"The physio saw it last night and they strapped it up at 5.45am so hopefully it will stay all right.
"But I'm still going to finish it, whether I'm limping. It's for charity and I want to get past the finish line."
Top chef Gordon Ramsay is competing in his 10th London marathon in a row. He is aiming to finish in just over three-and-a-half hours as he runs for the Scottish Spina Bifida Association.
He said: "It's time for a celebration. We're fighting a global credit crunch, and in terms of coming out and having fun, it costs nothing to come and watch."
He added that he has always wanted to go quicker than three hours 30 minutes, but he doubted it would happen after narrowly missing out three years ago.
Gail Emms, who won a silver medal in the badminton mixed doubles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, said: "I am so shaking, I can't believe it. I just have no idea what to expect. I'm completely out of my comfort zone."
She said running a marathon was very different to the demands of badminton.
"It's all power and speed and sprints, nothing like 26.2 miles. I have had to completely change my whole body. All the weight training, all the sprinting and all my thighs and my bum when I was jumping about the court, it's all completely gone.
"Now I'm feeling a bit more like Paula Radcliffe."
Britain's Mara Yamauchi was runner-up in the women's race, 61 seconds behind reigning champion Irina Mikitenko from Germany, who recorded a time of 2 hours 22 minutes and 11 seconds
Yamauchi was close to the winner for much of the race, and appeared delighted with a new personal best time when she crossed the line.
The men's wheelchair race was won by Australian Kurt Fearnley, with Brit David Weir a close second. American Amanda McGrory won the women's race.
Kenyan runner Sammy Wanjiru won the men's race with a course record time of 2 hours 5 minutes 10 seconds.
He finished 10 seconds ahead of Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede.
But the elite athletes were not the only ones who were breaking records.
Paul Simons, from Edgware, north London, completed the fastest-ever marathon dressed as Santa Claus.
The 45-year-old postman finished in 2 hours 55 minutes and 50 seconds.
He said: "I got carried away with all the cheers and all the excitement.
"Three hours is magical, it's the pinnacle. You can hold your head up high if you are a member of the sub-three hours club."
Mr Simons was running for premature baby charity Bliss after his son Alfie was born five weeks early two years ago.
He added: "Next year I might just have a rest and watch it from the pub, but it's back to work tomorrow unfortunately."
Model Nell McAndrew recorded a time of 3 hours, 10 minutes and 20 seconds, which meant she was the first celebrity to cross the finish line.
On hearing the news, she said: "I can't believe it. It's nice to have a woman win the title this year."
She added: "I'm absolutely thrilled. You get to take in so much more of the atmosphere every time you do it, and you meet more and more people with all the special stories."
McAndrew, who was raising cash for Cancer Research UK, joked that she would compete in the race "every year until I'm 80".
Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Boardman, who was running for the National Autistic Society, described the experience as "horrible" and said: "I don't fancy doing another one."
Boardman, who finished in three hours 19 minutes and 27 seconds, said he was not chasing a particular time.
"I just wanted to pace myself and to see what happened.
"Towards the last three or four miles I just couldn't care less.
"I just wanted somebody to shoot me but since they wouldn't I had to keep going," he said.
Keith Duffy of Irish band Boyzone ran for The National Autistic Society after his nine-year-old daughter Mia was diagnosed with the condition at just 18 months.
Duffy smashed his previous personal best by over 45 minutes, clocking in at three hours 52 minutes 33 seconds.
He said: "It was quite emotional to be honest with you.
"It really got a hold of me, I couldn't get myself together.
"But there were a lot of things going through my head. I'm doing it for autism and I have been dealing with autism for the last seven years with my daughter and other children, so that was what kept me going at the hard stages."
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