Well what a final run of the plan, had a pacing and fueling strategy in place, but after sitting in my wave for one hour twenty minutes with no shade, I could feel my skin and head cooking I did have plenty of high factor sun cream and hat on, so adjusted my pace at the start to a bit slower than planned to give myself time to adjust and hoping I didnāt burn out too quickly, the first half was very hot so my pace didnāt really improve, and congestion made getting into a good rhythm hard, the walkers were a pain from the start, people just stopping in front of you with no warning, or a line of walkers taking up the road road, donāt suppose the earlier waves have that issue, but I found a pace that felt good and that I could just keep plodding along at, kept to my fueling plan, took on plenty of fluids, had a few bloated stomach issues, which I tend to get on the over 3 hour runs when I get a bit warm, with those things considered I felt pretty good for most of the run, didnāt struggle until last 4 miles which I was pleased about considering what I can be like in the heat, it was great to see you all at the end, helped so much, I didnāt think at any point that I can not do it, I loved the showers to run through, did all of those and fire brigade hosing us down, Then there were the supporters, the music, the bands, the signs, sensory over load, just so much to take in, and made the miles pass quickly, running over tower bridge, up to Big Ben and for me the end coming up to the finish line, you turn the corner and there is Buckingham palace it was amazing, although the last few miles I had had enough, but the whole thing didnāt feel like 26.2 miles, lydd 20 miles seemed longer. Definitely a day I will never forget, I donāt think there was any part of the course with no support, incredible day. So for me although my time was longer than I wanted, I ran 26.2 miles in that heat and enjoyed myself, didnāt feel like death at the end, my daughter said at the finish line she was surprise how smiley and energetic I was. I never expected to do a marathon, I entered after persuasion from a work colleague a few years ago then just re-entered by email not really sure why, but if I hadnāt already been training with you I probably would not have gone ahead with it, or if I had I would have really panic about it, being on the plan kept me calm about it, especially as we got near I got a little nervous/ excited but I didnāt have any anxiety about it, which surprised me, the past year being on team orange has been amazing and has given me so much and new friends, I have learnt so much and really enjoyed it. How many people say that, that they enjoyed marathon training, so thank you so much Simon for all your time, advice, support and guidance and great training plans, it really is all appreciated team š rocks, see you in a few weeks after recovery
