Hi all,

Well I fly tomorrow morning, so I thought I ought to write something to sum up my thoughts and race plan!

First of all, well done Thommo and Mo. Thommo is obviously a clubmate and I'm so pleased for him. Mo looked classy and in control, and I've never seen a 10k won with such guile and belief. He looked like he knew he was going to win it from the very start. Thommo was pure guts. I was surprised when Mo dropped him with 5 laps to go or so but his last lap was awesome and I'm delighted for him. There are 3 distance races in my lifetime that have made me want to step out the door and go and blast a run, and the other 2 were Paula Radcliffe (10k in Munich and London marathon world record). I have watched the race twice since and I think what made it so much better was knowing the guys involved. A real tingle down my spine...

From my side, I feel strangely serene and calm. I think it's because I'm still in the UK and not surrounded by nervous athletes. I think also I haven't placed any real pressure on myself. People keep asking me what I'm aiming for. To be honest, I don't know! I'm not aiming for a certain time, as the heat will play a big part in this, and I'm not aiming for a placing, because I haven't analysed the field. In terms of where I am ranked: I'm 41st in Europe this year, and out of the 70 entrants for the race on Sunday, I am 42nd based on PBs, and 21st based on SBs. But in the marathon, I think rankings rarely really mean a lot, as so much can change over 26.2 miles. If I'm honest, I don't think I'm in the shape I was in before London. I'm not being negative, just realistic. I bashed out some fantastic sessions before London as well as setting a half marathon PB. I'm pretty fit now, no doubt about that, but felt awful for 5 weeks or so of my build-up and have only improved in the past few weeks. Going to Font Romeu and being in the mix in sessions with Lee and Martin has instilled some confidence that I should perform well, as well as my 14.50 5k on saturday, feeling comfortable 1 week before the race. I will run how I feel. The heat WILL affect things and I'm expecting a lot of people to really fade in the 2nd half and I don't want that to be me. 

I am going to use the high sodium drink before the race, as practised in Font Romeu, and take on as much water as I comfortably can in the race, as well as using the mist sprays and pouring water over me. All else I can do is make sure I feel comfortable for the first half, and prepare that the last 10k as temperatures push 30 degrees will be what hurts people most and this is where I want to feel reasonable and not wilting or spent. I will probably run the first half slightly easier than I would normally and ideally a negative split with a faster 2nd half. 

I just want to run a race that I'm happy with. A lot of friends are coming to watch and giving me banter about how I'd better win etc. This is quite amusing to me, and all I really want out of this is to finish and be proud I wore the Great Britain vest and gave a good account of myself. I'm not expecting to set Europe alight, but I don't want to trail home having blown up hideously trying to be something I'm not. I want to enjoy the occasion, and run a good race. If I do it right, I'll get confidence from the race itself and move past people in the latter stages. It would be great to score for the team and be in the top 3 Brits. 

Whatever happens, I'm going to learn a lot from this: I'm going to learn how a marathon feels at 30 degree heat; as well as running in a major championships in a Great Britain vest and how I cope with all this. 

Signing out now, see you after the race!

Ben