The post you are reporting:
"Thousands of fun runners, amateur athletes, celebrities, politicians, and the sporting elite will be pounding the streets today for the 32nd London Marathon.
Organisers say just over 37,500 entrants have registered for the race , which begins in Greenwich at 9am.
Forecasters are predicting dry weather as the race gets under way, but warned there is a chance of heavy downpours later on.
It should be the perfect temperature for participants, with highs of around 13C expected.
Among the familiar faces on the starting line will be shadow chancellor Ed Balls, chef Gordon Ramsay, model Nell McAndrew and newsreader Sophie Raworth.
Mr Balls, who is running the marathon for the charities Action for Stammering Children and Whizz Kids, said he is just hoping to get round the course.
Ms Raworth said she hopes to "stay upright" after she crashed into a barrier on the side of the road and blacked out after 23 miles.
Ms McAndrew is embarking on her sixth London Marathon and will try to break the three-hour mark for the first time. Her past times have been so quick that she has qualified to compete with the elite athletes.
A soldier who was blinded by an explosion in Afghanistan will run alongside an actor from Downton Abbey to raise money for Blind Veterans UK.
Lance Bombardier Rob Long said he would require "extreme concentration" to complete the course with Lachlan Nieboer,who played a blinded soldier in the latest series of the TV drama.
There will be around 100 runners trying to break a series of bizarre marathon-related world records.
Sasha Kenney, 34, hopes to raise over £2,000 for the NSPCC as she bids to break the six-hour mark for quickest runner hula hooping.
"Someone said to me it couldn't be done," said Ms Kenney, a fitness instructor from Wrexham, north Wales.
"I see a lot of that in my profession so I want to prove them wrong."
George and Charley Phillips, from Hammersmith, west London, will attempt to beat a time of 8 hours and 25 minutes to become the fastest marathon runners on stilts.
The record for the tallest costume to complete a marathon could be broken by David Lawrenson, 39, from Lancashire, who is donning a 24ft version of the Blackpool Tower."
[From Sky News via Yahoo]
I saw Ed Balls out on his bike shopping yesterday looking relaxed and wrapped-up warm. Perhaps he had run out of pasta?