The 24 hours leading up to a race have always been a stressful and anxious time for me. Have I remembered by running shoes? Did I pack my race number? Where did I put my timing chip? All this nervous energy is wasted energy that won’t be put to good use where it matters: on the course.

A few weeks back I had a bad cold that left me wiped out for three whole days. I also had a half-marathon to run. I’d laid in bed for two days and needed to dose myself up on all the cold remebies I could scrounge together to make it back to Peterborough for my niece’s birthday. This was also where the half marathon was. As I was about to head out the door my kit wasn’t in my bag, I didn’t think I’d be well enough to run. But at the last minute I picked up my shoes and shorts, just in case.

48 hours later I was lining up at the start of my half-marathon. It wasn’t until the morning of the race that I realised I could actually run it, and I’d therefore sidestepped all the stress and worry about what kit I might have forgotten and what training I hadn’t done. What’s more the only thing I forgot was my energy gels, but a few jelly beans handed out by spectators did the job just as well.

The moral of the story is this: chill out. Do what you need to do to help you do that – this might mean setting all your kit out the night before the race or even sleeping in your kit and setting five alarms. But remember that it’s only a race, it’s supposed to be fun and there’ll be others. Keep calm and run strong.