'Nanas are the devil's food before running – sends my tummy all funny. Bleurgh. Small handful of raisins and a square of dark choccie about 15 mins before an evening run does it for me. And lots of water during the day. – Treacle Tart Dried fruit

to being able to run a 1:15 half and a 2:41 marathon. But because I didn’t have the genetic build that some of my club mates and training partners had, that was my limit. – GrendelBlaming genes is a cop-outI like to tell myself that it's all about genetic

many tummy troubles if I eat before hand, even if I leave it for a few hours. I did my last marathon on a cup of tea and some greek yoghurt with honey. – Hazel AdamsI run about 18 or 19 miles on Sunday mornings on a completely empty stomach, not even a

Black toenails are caused by pressure on the nail, which causes bleeding under it. The normal cure is to make sure that your shoes have lots of room for expansion when you run. I believe that in your feet can expand by up to 10 per cent during a marathon, caused

. – fat buddhaSix days before should be fine. Four days before, not so fineI ran my first London Marathon in 2004. My training had been somewhat sporadic and interspersed with the odd binge, not to mention a few fags. On the Wednesday before the marathon