or fellow runners before the race to lighten your mood.About 25 minutes before the start do some walking, slow jogging, then a few 50-metre strides at race pace. Visit the portable toilets one last time. Check your post-race kit onto the baggage bus

« Three weeks to goThe hard work is now behind you. You’ve finished the final long run and you should be easing back on the intensity of the mid-week runs. Rest truly replaces training as the most important element of your preparations, and race

Every good marathon-training plan should ‘taper’ during the final two or three weeks. That means you run less and rest more. For some people, the idea of backing off on their training just before the big race seems counter-intuitive. "So many