This app lets you run the first ever Digital London Marathon alongside astronaut Tim Peake

Thousands of runners are ready to slog their guts out doing the London Marathon.

But if you missed out on a place in the famous 26-mile race, you don't just have to sit sulking at home watching it on the TV in your running gear.

You can now join in with the race thanks to the wonders of the Internet.

For the first time ever anyone can enter the Digital Virgin Money Marathon from anywhere in the world - or even out of it, in the case of British astronaut Tim Peake.

He will do the race 155 miles above the earth aboard the International Space Station with just a treadmill and his iPad.

Anyone can race Peake and the rest of the actual marathon runners with the free Run Social app and download the free London Marathon course route.

Marc Hardy, RunSocial co-founder, is the man bringing the experience of crowds and iconic landmarks of the London Marathon to the digital world for the first time.

He said: "It allows people who might not normally be able to run a marathon to now be able to run the full distance but in their own time whether that is hours, days or weeks. With RunSocial you can simply carry on where you last left off.

"And of course, as with all our special video routes you can also see the avatars of other people running inside your videos live."

"On Sunday one of those avatars may be British ESA astronaut Tim Peake running on the International Space Station. How cool is that?"

Anyone doing the digital race on a treadmill at home or at the gym will get a countdown in the app for when the London Marathon begins at 9am on April 24.

You can accurately sync up your treadmill running speed with the app with Tread Tracker which sends real time speed data via Bluetooth.

Other video routes around the world like Death Valley, the Swiss Alps and the Scottish Highlands are on there if you fancy a change of scenery from London.

For more information about the RunSocial app and TreadTracker visit the Run Social website here.