Despite the double lap, I found PMB to be my most enjoyable marathon so far. Of the other two that I've done, Johnson Crane is flat and fast but, if I'm honest, a bit boring. Soweto is far more interesting and there's crowd support the whole way but it gets tough from about 34km, which is compounded by the fact that that's the distance where most marathon runners end up on empty. The double lap format is actually pretty handy for your first marathon. When you start hitting the wall in the late 20km/early 30km, you know exactly what lies ahead. At PMB, you just need to make it up to Oribi and then you know you've got about 6km of good, gentle running all the way home. The section through the town, around the City Hall is a lot of fun and it's in your backyard so you can get a family member to second you along the route, more for the lift that seeing a familiar face brings than anything else.
