Your marathon is almost here. The training is done, the long runs are banked, and right now you're probably somewhere between excitement and low-level panic that you've forgotten how to run. You haven't. Here's what you need to know for the final week. The taper is doing its job — even when it doesn't feel like it. Legs feeling heavy and sluggish? Normal. The urge to squeeze in one more long run "just to be sure"? Resist it entirely. Your job this week is to rest, stay loose, and show up ready.

Pacing a marathon is one of the hardest things you'll do as a runner. Not the running itself — the restraint. You've tapered for three weeks, you're standing on the start line feeling fresher than you have in months, and every fibre of your being wants to just go for it. But you can't. Marathon pace sits at an effort level where you might not feel the warning signs for miles. By the time you realise you've gone out too fast, you've already done the damage. Here's how to get it right on race day.

You've done the training. The long runs, the threshold sessions, the early mornings and the sore legs. Now it's time to make sure you don't undo all of that by forgetting your race number on the kitchen table. This is your race day checklist — kit, nutrition, logistics and mental preparation. Everything you need to think about from the week before to the moment you step onto that start line. The more prepared you are, the less you'll worry. And the less you worry, the more you can enjoy it.