On Thursday evening I headed over to the ExCeL arena in London’s docklands to collect my race number for Sunday. Out of all the number collection points the one I went to (based on my number) was manned by a couple of Ranelagh Harriers members that I know. Nice.

I collected my number, registered the electronic chip that will be on my shoes so that an accurate time is recorded (and I cannot cheat and catch the tube straight to the finish!) and had a walk around the exhibition. After a quick lap of the stands I then headed on my way home, armed with a ‘goodie-bag’ which included deodorant, beer and an oat bar! I left the beer behind as I’m off the drink (at least till Sunday afternoon!).

The past two weeks I have cutting back my running considerably, with my long run last Sunday being 12 miles (which felt really short!). Everything is looking reasonable apart from a completely unexplained tightness in my right calf! It appeared a few days ago and for the past few days I’ve been trying to take it easy as much as possible. Sunday will be the ultimate test! Wednesday saw me run an easy 5 miles and I’ve been trying to rest and eat lots of carbohydrates since then!

I don’t feel nervous about the weekend at the moment - and this could be partly because I’ve just been busy all week and haven’t had much of a chance to think about it. I’m sure the nerves will kick in tomorrow (Saturday), and most certainly when I’m sat on the train to London Waterloo first thing Sunday morning.

One of my concerns has been the number of runners around me and not being able to settle into a good rhythm/pace early on. Thankfully my running number has me starting in ‘Pen 1’ (see the little ‘1’ in the bottom right corner of the picture) meaning that there shouldn’t be too many (thousand!) people in front of me at the start. That’s one less thing to worry and stress about I guess.

Expect an update later in the day on Sunday or on Monday, and if you want to follow my progress there’s an online tracker at the Adidas website.