The final leg of the 13 in 13 Challenge starts at the spiritual home of my current club, London Wayfarers Hockey Club and finishes at the club where Emma played her hockey, Surbiton Hockey Club (via Clapham Common, Tooting Commons, Colliers Wood, Raynes Park and Berrylands).

Actual Distance:  13.54 miles

Total Duration: 1 hr 47 mins 10 secs

Half Marathon Time:  1 hr 43 mins 52 secs

Blister Count:  Who cares?!! All done and feet can rest/recover now. 

After a year of preparation to build up tolerance in my legs, 2,622 miles of training, more blister plasters than I care to remember, 13 days on the roads following a variety of routes and in all weathers, we finally got there. Half marathon #13 finished and my 13 in 13 Challenge completed.  

Today was, in different ways, both one of the toughest and also the easiest runs of the challenge. Tough because yesterday wiped me out more than I expected, my legs were starting to really fatigue, and I struggled to get as much sleep as I would have liked and two days running in torrential rain had taken its toll on the soles of my feet (which were pretty painful for the last 5 miles). But, motivation could never have been an issue today. Live, laugh, love… and run!  

And, a couple of coincidences really made me smile during the final run:

• Firstly, the past two days the forecast has promised dry weather for most, if not all of my runs. Both days it poured it down and got worse throughout! And then, 1 mile out from the finish today, it stopped and the sun came out for the home straight (thank you Broady!).  

• And, secondly the donations… my first fundraising challenge in support of CRY, back in 2017, raised £2,634 (plus a further £420 in Gift Aid). During the run today the total donations for my 13 in 13 Challenge reached £8,343 (+ £1,746 in Gift Aid). Which, if you add all of that up, means with only 10 minutes of a 13 day challenge remaining, we had reached a cumulative grand total of… you guessed it - £13,000. Amazing!! So the challenge starts and ends with #13.   

I am truly humbled by all of the messages of support and the incredible generosity people have shown. Thanks also to Ben Lawrence and Alex Horowitz for setting me on my way from Battersea Park this evening, and to the Green family and Chris Simmons for the support en route. It was also wonderful to be greeted at the finish line by Emma’s family and friends, to be able to spend some time remembering Emma, and to see so many old faces down at Sugden Road.  

Thank you’s, acknowledgements and updates tomorrow. But for now, a Chinese and sleep!  

Thank you all again for following and for the support!!