Sidebar:
Make a marathon effort

Pace yourself
Although you might be able to run alongside faster runners in the early miles of the marathon, you will pay for it later on. Experienced runners run at a pace they can hold for the entire event, not just the first two miles, so stick to a pace you are comfortable with, rather than marathon trying to stick with the front of the pack.

Stretch, don’t strain
A light jog and a bit of stretching before you start can certainly help. However, keep both light, as you do not want to burn energy with your warmup, nor do you want to pull a muscle during stretching.

Eat breakfast
Even though you might not feel like eating something on race morning, going into the race with an empty tank is a bad idea. Go for carbs, like a bagel, a banana, or a piece of toast. However, steer clear of heavy, fatty foods. This is not the time for a full English breakfast.

Don’t try something new
No matter what the reason, do not try something new on race day. Don’t wear new shoes, don’t try a new race-day diet, just don’t. Too many months of good preparation can go out the window because you decide to try something that might work better than your usual preparation. So experiment during training, but on race day, stick with what you know.

Don’t forget the sun
Even though you start running early in the morning, only the fortunate few finish before the sun is up, and this is only in the half marathon. So even though you might feel silly applying sunscreen before sunrise, it can make a huge difference to how you feel later in the day.