, and drink plenty of water before you leave. If you can't face eating so early, take a sports drink or a banana smoothie to sip as you run, and make sure you refuel within 20 minutes of finishing your run. And you can feel suitably smug – runners bottle out

the crush of first-timers who inevitably head for the first table and clog things up. Time savings: 5 seconds per water station Grab ‘N’ GoIf there are cups rather than bottles at the drink stations, once you have your cup, pinch the top together to form a

crazy. We get like an hour in, I haven’t even touched my water. And theirs are gone. Both bottles, done. I can do gels in the marathon. But I wouldn’t want to eat anything. I’d feel terrible. But a three-hour run is the equivalent of a six- or seven

. The only (surprisingly big) noise is of thousands of running shoes striking tarmac. Another water stop. A last chance to drink before the final push. And for a while you run on a carpet of wet Gatorade cups.’ (More from this story) Suzi W on the joys