London marathoners assemble

I am so excited too now. A couple of near misses today. Nearly burnt a hole in my running vest ironing on the letters.

Anyone else feel they are taking too much stuff? All the gels, plus my medicine 'kit' weighs a ton. Not sure whether I should offload.

Anyone else in green start?

Good luck everyone, enjoy it. I am excited but also exhausted and full of carbs so hoping for a reasonable sleep. Or as reasonable as it gets with a baby in the bed next to me.

Loved the expo!

Good luck everyone!! I'm got so much nervous energy now I actually can't wait to start...!

Went for a coffee with a friend after the expo and ended up taking a little detour to Tower Bridge which was all set up. Should of taken a better picture with the 20k marker in place, but here's a little preview for tomorrow...

Sending mahoosive positive vibes your ways. I'll be cheering you all on from my sofa tomorrow x

Elba I've never taken ibuprofen when I run but I am absolutely not going to start after reading that!!

Maid I'm going to shimmy my shoulders at every mile and think of you.

Best bit of advice I've heard is 'remember mile 13 is not the middle. Treat mile 20 as the middle!'

Sorry- didn't mean for that to come out like a lecture

Thanks Maid! You have become our official cheerleader!

I am in London and realising that it was unwise to stay with friends with baby twins as 1) they don't sleep and 2) they have permanent colds. Not exactly restful so far, and praying nothing comes from being sneezed over a million times. Im braving the expo tomorrow afternoon with a friend.

Regarding the ibuprofen please be a bit careful, there are really valid reasons to avoid it however good your kidneys are and however rarely you take it. Running a marathon puts extra strain on the kidneys due to reduced blood flow and dehydration, but compensatory mechanisms generally kick in for most healthy people. Ibuprofen can inhibit this, and one dose could (potentially) be enough to cause acute damage. Obviously it won't happen to everyone, but ibuprofen is well known for being toxic to kidneys when they are (even temporarily) under extra strain.

Thanks Maid for the tips - really helpful. I usually stop in Costa on my long runs so I think I need to get a caffeine substitute for the same hit.
Also good to hear about ibuprofen. I only just read about that today: I'm sure it will do mentor good keeping a headache at bay than harm to my kidneys. Also like one mid run for the joints!
When to take Imodium?

Also - does anyone know - I am in the final pen in red group i.e. Last lot to start, are we likely to be walking first few miles as simply so many of us?

Expo tick. Race number tick. Weird pain in my side tick. Am I going to be the first runner ever to pull out due to 'side pain'?!!

Feeling excited and nervous now. Completely disorganised though.. Will need to wash my charity vest to tomorrow.

Thanks for your tips Maid. I think taking it slowly will be so important for me. I'm an ibuprofen fan too. I think my chances of developing acute kidney failure are quite small.

I'll put the poms poms away for now, in favour of soothing brows and supportive arm rubs.

You will all be fantastic. You're going to see loads of people that are faster than you - ignore them. And you're going to see loads of people that are slower than you. People walking it, people in wheelchairs, bears with buckets, people who look like they're having a heart attack after one mile.

They will finish it. You will finish it.

Don't go out too fast - if anything, pull your speed for the first few miles, get a rhythm, get your confidence up. You can walk for a few minutes at any time, and loads of people do - you don't feel like you're being lazy or anything. Don't drink too much water. Eat stuff. If you're going to use caffeine at any point, stop the coffees today and save the caffeine until mile 18 - the boost will be enormous. Take an Imodium, and carry some paracetamol or melty Ibuprofen (although the latter is apparently controversial, I reckon it's not a habitual thing so I went with it - 2 ibuprofen before the race, then one prophylactic at mile 18). Shake out your shoulders at every mile marker.

And smile!!!

Ruperts I spend a lot of running time (at any distance) working numbers. % distance left, if I run X fast it will be this time, and so on.

Relaxed in a que sera type of way, not an it's going to be easy type of way I hasten to add!

I'm going to expo today as well. I must have checked everything a dozen times.

I have been quite relaxed other than that but I think expo will see a big kick in of nerves.

On way way to expo, feeling very excited! Have checked about a hundred times that I have my registration form.

Loving the mantras too. I'm either going to be smiling courtesy of maid or puzzled courtesy of rupert.

Veering between terror & excitement but mostly excitement at the moment. I'm obsessively reading every guide to running London.

Love the mantras- especially the mental gymnastics!

It's all starting to feel very real now, ive swung between excitement and complete terror for the last few days. Struggling a bit with my left shin/ankle but hoping that the rest will of helped. My 20 miles feels so long ago that I've lost confidence that I can do it, yet still not long enough to feel recovered from it!

Off to London tomorrow morning. The lovely friends that I'm staying with have just asked for my 'orders' for a post marathon feast- I've gone for nachos and cider Another friend who I hardly ever see is also running and we've found out we are at the same start which is great.

Hope everyone's ok and injury free, and that those with colds are feeling better!

I'm also going to the expo tomorrow afternoon. Getting a flight tomorrow morning then Taxi to hotel to dump my bags then heading in.
I hope everyone who was feeling ill is feeling better.
I'm heading out to an exercise class soon for the stretches.

I count up in prime numbers or work out what % of a marathon I have done.

1 mile = 3.8% of a marathon

The mental gymnastics take my mind off the pain

When you want to go slow, just GO!

pom poms

Eeek, excited for you all.

Does anyone have any good running mantras for when they get tired?
"Left foot, right foot, remember-to-smile"
Once you start smiling on every 4th or 8th beat, you'll feel uplifted.

How are the colds awhole and chocolate?

Does anyone have any good running mantras for when they get tired? I use the Beckett line 'I can't go on, I'll go on', it makes me think of people with no choice but to go on and puts in perspective I'm just doing a run. Also, we've been watching Finding Dory a lot recently and I find myself saying 'just keep running, just keep running'.

In my long runs I always have a phase in the middle where I think 'this is ridiculous, why am I doing this' but it always passes. Trying to keep that in mind for marathon day.

I used to just wear them for recovery but then tried them on my 18 mile run and the difference in my calves afterwards was amazing. Not keen to try the socks though. I shall be packing a pair of compression shorts to wear under my jeans on the way home on Sunday.