Thanks everyone for the support. I am really happy with the result. It was a little warmer than I had hoped, but I paced myself well (despite a hilly course), fueled well, pushed hard through some tough sections despite my headphones dying at mile 20/km 32. A great first marathon and despite thinking it would be my first and last, I think I'm going to try again. 5km splits were insanely consistent. (That's me, thumbs up, about 1 mile in!!)

@Emily Bailey Thank you - Being in Australia we are a long way from all the other majors...but you never know. Maybe Sydney again next year or something a little flatter 🤣

Thank you!! Feeling good, weather is a little warmer than I hoped but sun is meant to be shining!! Thanks for the support

I've been making my own gels which has been a big $$ saving, but during a recent half marathon, it was hot and I felt that after 3-4 gels I was over it. Going to test more liquid carbs in this marathon block

I used 2:1 Maltodextrin and Fructose (you can also use 2:0.8). My recipe is below - scale it for as many grams of carbs as you need - I just used some reusable gel flasks from Amazon - they have a wider mouth than a soft flask. Ingredients (60g Carbs) - 1.4 oz maltodextrin - 0.7 oz fructose - 1.5–2 fl oz warm water - ¼ tsp pink salt - ¼ tsp pectin (~0.04 oz) - 2–4 drops lemon or raspberry essence - Optional. ⅛–¼ tsp lemon juice to reduce sweetness You can play around with flavors, I swapped the flavor and some of the water for Gatorade one time which worked well too. Mixing Method 1. Add warm water to your flask/container 2. Dissolve pink salt fully 3. Mix maltodextrin + fructose + pectin together dry 4. Slowly add dry mix into liquid while stirring/shaking 5. Add flavouring 6. Shake/blend thoroughly 7. Let sit 2–3 minutes, then shake again ( it will thicken more when it cools in the fridge) Storage - Refrigerated: 3–5 days - Frozen: 2–3 months

Thanks team. Running TCS Sydney in August to support the We Run foundation with a warmup half marathon in May. You can follow along at runwithdom.com