I had the most horrendous 'PMS' earlier this week. And there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to improve matters. My poor partner watched me, pacing like a caged lion – clawing at tomes and trawling the internet, desperate to find something to relieve the anguish, but to no avail.

‘Pre-marathon syndrome’, as the Olympic marathon gold medallist Joan Benoit Samuelson termed it, is something that affects many of us in the lead up to the big day. The gnawing doubts that make us question our very ability to complete a 26.2 miler, let alone do so at the pace we’ve been harbouring as a target for the past three to four months of training.

I’ve been training for the Yorkshire marathon since the end of June, having built up my training base over the few months prior to that. My training has been going reasonably well and I have a target time of 3 hours 45. I’ve even done three 20 milers in the lead-up, albeit painful ones.

By the start of October, all that remained was the simple matter of the taper.

With my final 20 miler out of the way, I needed to channel my efforts into a 14 miler, with the second half at marathon pace.

Sadly, it didn’t turn out that way. I started off too fast, rapidly becoming addicted to my Garmin, watching the miles churn out and urging myself to run slower, run slower. But running slowly can be as much of a challenge as running quickly, I discovered.

Because it was a much shorter distance than my recent long runs, I struggled to stay at the pace I’d planned. And, to make it worse, half way through the run I nearly came a cropper, courtesy of a wayward cyclist, a tractor and an even more wayward wild horse - some of the dangers of living in the beautiful New Forest.

I felt terrible for the remainder of the day and the next two days I was definitely nursing something – perhaps it was an adverse reaction to a particularly stressful week at work, perhaps it was psychosomatic. Whatever it was, it was serious enough to force me into bed before 8 o clock, even before my daughter, and – what’s more – serious enough to mean I missed my weekly serving of University Challenge.

I took Monday and Tuesday off running, scouring the marathon bibles on our shelves, seeking advice from the great and good of the 26.2 community, and from fellow Yorkshire marathon runners on Twitter, still not quite convinced I could make any of their comments apply to me.

When Wednesday arrived, I decided I needed to shake myself out of this running funk. By this stage, I’d ingested an encyclopedia-load of advice about the mental side of the marathon and it was starting to paying dividends – at least I was back out and running.

I continued to ask around for tips as to how to get through the marathon, forgetting that I’d got through my long runs perfectly well (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration), or at least without passing out and that was without a couple of weeks’ rest and before the copious carbohydrates I’ve been eating recently.

I learnt there were numerous ways to divide 26.2 miles to make it seem more palatable. Four lots of 10k and then a bit extra, five lots of five miles and then a bit extra, two 10 milers and then a 10k – a multitude of mathematical mind games to challenge someone already challenged in the maths department.

Some runners shared the mental tricks they played, as they ticked off the minutes and miles to the finish line. Like them, I tried to visualise myself crossing the finish line strongly and crowds applauding my success. And I particularly liked the suggestion of one friend who told me that when things were particularly tough she’d chant her children’s names.

I was stuck in a real fight between the body and the brain. I could see how far I’d come and I could see how far I had to go. For instance, I’ve run almost 500 miles in my training, more than the distance from York to Lands End and, with just two short runs and a 26.2 mile run to complete, the end is in sight.

I’m loading up on carbs, resting my body, and I’ve finally convinced myself that my fourth marathon is going to be a good one.

But, despite all the advice and the suggestions and the reality of the situation, a little voice inside me kept tormenting me that perhaps it wasn’t enough.

Ultimately it was a piece of writing almost entirely unrelated to marathon running that really convinced me that I would be able to get through this fourth marathon and that Sunday should be a celebration rather than a chore.

On Monday, I stumbled upon an article on the BBC’s website, written by Helen Fawkes, a journalist who used to be a colleague of mine at the BBC. Our paths crossed when we’d returned to London for training from our overseas outposts as young freelance reporters.

Her article was entitled, “A list for living, not a bucket list” and it detailed 50 things she wants to do. Helen drew up the list after being diagnosed with incurable ovarian cancer on Christmas Eve last year and she has already achieved 10 of the things on it, including going to Paris with friends for lunch and pulling a pint in her local pub. One of those still to do is a 5 k run.

It made me realise how lucky I am to be able to put one foot in front of the other and run, not just for 5k but for 42.2 k. I know it won’t be easy on Sunday, but when the going does gets tough, I will think of Helen , hoping that she’ll realise her dream of running her 5 k and experiencing the other things on her list.

Because I know that whatever pain and discomfort I go through in completing the Yorkshire marathon, that’s nothing compared with the marathon that Helen has already run and keeps on running.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here