The final countdown...

This time next week I will be about halfway through the marathon.

Every runner knows the one golden rule of race day. NEVER try anything new on race day. I had a wee moment this week when I realised that the Lochaber Marathon starts at 11am. This is really quite late for a marathon to start and it's not something I'm used to. The Edinburgh marathon (that i've done twice) starts at 10am. This might not seem like much of a difference, but it is.

I normally don't have much of a breakfast on a marathon/long run day. You don't notice hunger until well into the race as you have enough energy stored in your muscles to last you at least 7 or 8 miles, then you have your race nutrition. An extra hour before start time, means you can start to feel hungry before you set off - it also means using more of your reserves. Therefore I must eat breakfast.

I decided to try it out today. I woke at 7am and had a bowl of porridge, followed by my usual seeds. I waited until 11am before setting out to try and recreate race conditions. As per my taper rules, I only did 10 miles today - but I had a recurring stitch for about half of it. I have learned that my body can't take a full bowl of porridge. I managed a half bowl a couple of weeks ago so I'll go back down to that! I'm really glad I tried it out though!

Anyway inspired by EdiSteve's shot of Portobello beach yesterday, I ran that way today and took my own.

Exercise: 10 mile run
April running mileage: 20 miles
2013 running mileage: 345 miles