With just over a week to go it’s time to accept that there’s not much left to do before the big day. No amount of running training now is going to help. 

I’ve been fairly defiant of the standard marathon training rules so far – I’ve not stuck to a consistent programme of varied running training, I don’t carbo-load and I haven’t yet run anything into double figures since my last marathon in 2013. There are a few rules that are not to be messed with though including not running in shiny new kit and not trying fancy new food the day before or day of a race. 

That does leave me with one rule led to break though. And break it I did 😄 never get your first sports massage just before the big day. Now while yesterday’s massage was my second and it was a good week before the big day it does rather fly in the face of convention which lets face it is part of the fun! Many people take this marathon training Malarky far too seriously. 

The massage itself went well. My first massage just a week before hand had been tough and very painful and the lovely lady masseuse said that I had the tightest muscles she’d seen in a long while. That apparently is not a compliment! She was amazed I could run at all let alone run a marathon. Still she did her best to fix me and the results of her hard work proved good in my second massage. This time it was lots less painful (note I said less not un painful). Apparently my back, hamstrings and calves are 40-50% better than they were and even my quads and hips (my main concern) are better. That’s me done though till after the big day. So in the mean time I’m going to stretch, foam roll and hot bath my way through the next week in the hopes that my legs and hips last the course. I’m sure it’ll be fine 😊

Next challenge is deciding what I’m going to eat/drink on the day. Do I switch to gels? Or stick to old faithful jelly beans? I have a week to trial stuff and figure it out. All fun and games this running lark 🏃🏻