There's more to life than London

Today is the day that the Virgin London Marathon accepted/rejected magazines start to arrive. Over the new few days, ballot entrants will find out whether they are the lucky few to get through this year. For those who paid the fee in advance and are entitled to a 'rejected' jacket, there might even be an added visit to the local sorting office to pick up an oversized parcel that came while you are at work. Talk about adding insult to injury.

My Twitter timeline is a mix of elation and disappointment today, with the odd dash of frustration at the ballot system. Under the old sponsors, Flora, entrants who applied several years in a row but were unlucky were entitled to guaranteed entry after 5 attempts. It's the same for the New York marathon ballot. But that arrangement ceased when Virgin took over London.

I've had the rejected magazine on previous occasions but I'll admit I'm one of the lucky ones this year, I've got a place. But I won't be entering the ballot again - this will be my final attempt at London for the foreseeable future. I'll be leaving my ballot space open for someone who have never run the race before, and hope they get their chance.

For me, there are just too many other marathons to do, too many other cities to visit. As I sat on the bus from Edinburgh Airport yesterday, on my way to a meeting, I realised that I really want to run Edinburgh one year.  I also want to run Manchester after seeing the amazing medals they gave out last year - I'm all about the race bling! So I need to stop attempting to run London if I want to make either of these my spring marathon.

Then there's Seville or Marrakech. There's Barcelona, Copenhagen or Paris. And Rome in the spring will always be worth a visit. Closer to home, Brighton is fast becoming a must do race on the UK calendar.

And if you're speedy, there's iconic Boston to try for. I would love to be fast enough to attempt Boston and I live in hope that I can maintain my current marathon pace long enough to make GFA one day.

If you're one of those runners that knocks out a marathon every weekend, then perhaps you can fit in London and all of these others. If you're like me and can manage a couple of marathons a year without provoking divorce or redundancy, then you have to choose.

I know London is iconic and I understand that if you run marathons, you want to do it. I felt exactly the same. It's an incredibly well organised event, with great support from the city. But there are others that will ensure you have an amazing experience and it's not the only marathon.  It's not even that nice a medal.

And there is one positive about not running London in 2014 - you'll be able to come down and cheer Mo Farah along in his first attempt at the London marathon.