In just over a week, I’ll find out whether I’ve got a place in the London Marathon. It’s a long wait: from applying to getting in and then to lacing up your shoes at the start line takes a year in total. For many new runners unaware of the timing and hoop jumping that goes into getting a much coveted place in the race, this can be baffling. So here’s a quick run down of how you can be part of it.

The London Marathon takes place every April. It operated an online ballot for placesand this usually opens the day after the race. In 2011 ballot systems for both UK and overseas entries closed in record time. The UK ballot system closed in a record 1 day, 2 days quicker than last year, when it reached 125,000 applicants. The Overseas ballot system also closed in record time having reached 5,500.

So if you want to enter for 2012 – check the London Marathon website in early April to find out exactly when the ballot opens then get up early in the morning and sit by your computer pressing ‘refresh’ all day.

If you manage to get into the ballot, you’ll have to wait until October to find out if you’ve got a place. You’ll recieve either an ‘accepted’ or ‘rejected’ magazine to tell you were successful or not.

If you’re accepted, you’d better start training – you’ve got six months! You just have to pay your registration fee (about £30 if I remember rightly) and you’re off. These runners are often referred to as ‘own place runner’ or ‘ballot place runner’. If you want to raise money for charity, they’ll be very pleased for you to do that – but as you have your own place there is no requirement that you do this or that you raise a minimum amount.

If you’re rejected you can still get a place through a charity. Charities are allocated ‘Gold Bond’ places by the London Marathon – but this is still no easy way in unless you have a lot of rich friends. You generally have to pledge to raise £2000, and competition for places to run with some charities can be as still as you’ll see on race day. So if you want to run in April 2011, get on the phone to charities now to register your interest in running for them.

And if you weren’t successful in the ballot and can’t afford to raise this minimum amount to get a charity place, you may still get a ‘good for age’ place. To get one of these you need to have already run a full marathon in a particularly fast time and be able to prove it. For men aged 18-40 this is between 2h45 and 3h10, and for women aged 18-40 it’s 3h15 – 3h50. Here’s a full list of times.

Simple? Probably not. I’ve entered for the second time this year (last year I was rejected). But that didn’t stop me. I ran the Brighton Marathon instead and had a great time by the sea. So remember, there’s plenty of marathons out there and there’s always next year to enter London. I didn’t want to wait for London so now London will have to wait for me.