Today was the London Marathon, which means that the best marathon runners in the world ran right by my door. And following them were thousands of less accomplished runners, most of whom were raising money for charity. And while each of these runners is remarkable, my favourite ones are those who run the distance in what the British call “fancy dress” (the rest of us call them “costumes”).

Because as hard as it may be to run 26.2 miles, it must be harder to do if you’re wearing something that people really shouldn’t run in. And while many people raise money for charity, I imagine that people donate more to costumed runners. Not simply because they’re making a spectacle of themselves (that must help), but simply because they seem to be going all-in.

Nobody this year came close to the greatest marathon costume of all time, but some were still fantastic, nevertheless.

Before we get to my top five, a few caveats:

Originality counts

Every year, people run the marathon in Rhino costumes. This is impressive. They’re big and bulky, and they cover the head and obscure the vision. But they’re the same every year, and it has lost a lot of its originality – I cannot be bothered to try to capture them on camera anymore.

If I watch the marathon year after year, and see the same costume, the wonder of it will cease. Unless you’re the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Difficulty counts

If you put a skirt on over your normal running outfit, a pair of wings on your back, and a glittery hat, you’re probably not making the list. First, it’s not terribly original. But more importantly, I’m far less impressed than I am by the person who is adding to the difficulty of the run with their costume.

For instance, Hulk Hogan here is awesome:

But a the end of the day, he’s wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and a bandana. His fake mustache is not impeding his ability to race much.

The Flash

Somebody always dresses as the Flash, so it fails on originality. But it’s a very brave thing to do, is it not? Enter a race — a race that you know you aren’t going to win — as the Flash?

Things get missed

This is a photo blog post, so costumes only count if I caught them on camera.

Happen to pass by when I popped off to use the toilet? You’re not under consideration.

Ran too slow, and came by after I left the sidelines? You’re not under consideration.

I was unable to get a decent photo of you? You’re not under consideration.

On that last point, the honourable mention of this list are the two people who dressed as one camel. Particularly the guy or gal who was the rear half of that camel. You were on the other side of the street, and this is the best I could get:

But bravo, people. Bravo.

And now, your top five …

#5: Yellow

This is Natalie Street, raising money for the Charley Paige Trust. Almost didn’t make the cut, on the “difficulty” front, but the yellow stood out, looked fantastic, and clearly indicated a level of commitment beyond a t-shirt and funny hat.

#4: Suited and booted

This is Sam Hull, and – as near as I can tell – he is raising money for Give It Your Max.

At first, I thought this was a bit lame, as wearing a suit doesn’t strike me as “going the extra mile”, the way painting yourself head-to-toe in yellow does (nevermind the top three, below). Then I thought it was awesome — Mr. Hull is running towards Canary Wharf here. Now I know it’s supposed to be a school uniform, and I’m again not entirely sure.

But the fact remains that Mr. Hull was one of the first costumed runners to show up — and the first one to be wearing something that could be considered to make the run more difficult. For this alone, he deserves a top 5 spot.

#3: The gorilla

This is Sonja Hoeben raising money for the Gorilla Organization.

Not the first gorilla I’ve seen, nor, likely, the last. But I would completely believe it were I told that the costume is handmade. The long-ish gorilla fur is what wins it for me.

#2: Mary Poppins

Here is Paul Spreadbury, dressed as Mary Poppins, raising money for KissyPuppy.

This is a winner on multiple fronts. Running in a long dress? Carrying a handbag and an umbrella? With what has to be an uncomfortable and sight-limiting mask?

Then Mr. Spreadbury goes a step further, by posing for me as he ran past.

And then the personal nature of the charity touches a bit as well.

What could beat this? What?

#1: The Bride

I suppose somebody could get married in September, get drunk, decide to run the marathon in a wedding gown, and then go through with it.

Sophie McCorry Day beats out her husband here, by virtue of being caught on camera.

Edit: Apparently I got Paul Spreadbury’s name wrong, originally — I had it as Paul Spreadfield. And those commenting were too polite to draw it to my attention, and I only just noticed today. This has been corrected.
-07/05/2013

We are now less than a week away from the London Marathon.

On Sunday, the roads will close and thousands of runners will pass in close proximity of my home. This will be the third year that I have lived along the marathon route. It is the third year that I have had my SLR camera. It is the third year of the Big Bad Blog.

It feels as though the Blog and the Marathon are interlinked. We have blogged an awful lot about marathons — mostly pitcures of people in fancy dress, but also a lesson about arriving early, if you plan to take photos.

And, most memorably, our most popular post of all time is marathon-related.

So wish us well in our photographic efforts this weekend, and show up if you can and cheer for complete strangers.

It’s a happy birthday for the Big Bad Blog, as we celebrate our second anniversary of Bloggitude today with a trip down memory lane …

Birth: January 10, 2009

The Big Bad Blog is born with the posting of Mr T Bag. This may have set the tone for everything that appeared on the blog since:

Awakening: May 2, 2009

On the twenty-sixth of April, 2009, the annual London Marathon passed not far from my home. I was out on the street, taking pictures. On the second of May, I posted three of the photos here on the blog … and the Big Bad Blog has not looked back.

By the end of that day, over 15,000 people had visited the blog. Another 9,000 would visit on Sunday.

Whether this did something to our search engine ranking, or new visitors decided to add us to their RSS feed, or what, we don’t know. While we have yet to manage another 15,000 hit day (or month) traffic has been up considerably ever since.

And that must be the fault of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Commitment: January 24, 2010

In December of 2009, Karen and I went on vacation to Saint Lucia. On our return, I wrote a five-part story about our trip.

Although it happened towards the beginning (our first morning in St. Lucia, to be exact), I saved the best for last, and revealed that Karen and I were engaged in the fifth and final article about the trip.

While we are yet to be married (that will be one of our big events of 2011), the Big Bad Blog is, in the end, a chronicle of the life of one Mr. Topp. These things are important.

Procreation: October 7, 2010

Everywhere else I have written the date of the Big Bad Blog Article. Here, I write the date of the event.

On October 7, 2010, Margaret Rose Topp entered the world — and my life, to say nothing of the Big Bad Blog, has not been the same since. Blog outages, moves, and that whole Parenting category of articles? All these (and more) can be blamed on Maggie.

We introduced her a little over a week after she joined us.

Cute, ain’t she?

The London Marathon is an annual event. It begins near my new home, in Greenwich. The mid-point is near my old home, in Wapping. And it finishes near the Queen’s home.

With a large event happening so close to home, last year I watched the whole race. Outside a short reprieve for food, water and a toilet, I watched every single runner go by. And I took many of their photos. The result was the most popular post in the history of the Big Bad Blog.

The new home is in close proximity to the race’s starting point, so I thought it would be a great idea to do this again. I learned a few lessons.

You need to wake up earlier to watch the start of a race than you do to watch the middle of a race.

The start line is a more popular for those cheering than the mid-point of the race.

And, most importantly, if you plan to take photos of an event, you must arrive early, set up, and beat the crowd.

If you don’t, you’ll have a view like this to contend with:

Trying to identify runners who would make a good photo, focus, and fire off a couple of clear shots was difficult. And if I took too long, this would happen:

Although sometimes the not-yet-focused shots are not so bad:

Lesson learned. Next time I will be prepared. I will be an early riser. I will figure out where I want to stand to get the best possible photos. Otherwise, once again, my best photo might be a pile of discarded banana peels.