That is a wrap for 2025

Just back from Florence where I ran the Marathon for what I think was the 10th time. As usual the weather was as good as you could wish for on a Marathon : 10 Degrees, no wind and soft sun.

Getting to Florence nearly didn’t happen : I had a flight to Florence booked leaving in the middle of the day, Friday. Checking details as I was getting ready to leave for Gatwick, I found that the flight had been cancelled without reason but was offered an evening flight which I accepted. As a result I didn’t get checked into my B & B until after midnight, missing out on a decent evening meal. There was talk of industrial action but I now suspect the cancellation was due to the temporary Airbus grounding for a software update after it was discovered that intense solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers.

I met up with some friends on Saturday for mid-afternoon lunch – not my choice – so my normal eating/nutrition routine was upset. The consequence being that I had an forced unplanned toilet stop at around ~33km during the Marathon on Sunday. This cost several minutes unfortunately but my time of 3h 58m 16s was OK, slightly faster than Amsterdam & actually probably 3h 55m allowing for the toilet stop, plus a negative split.

Now to plan for 2026 : I should hear soon if I have a Good For Age place on the London Marathon 🤞