With only 16 days to go to the marathon, I am hoping that runners are being sensible enough to taper down and allow their bodies the essential rest and repair they need to enable them to get through the big day.

I have been in the fitness industry for 13 years, and over the last few months have paid regular visits to the Official Brighton Marathon website.

I have read several unfortunate comments from runners who have had to pull out of the race. Many of the injuries runners have sustained I feel will be due to lack of specific conditioning.

Running alone takes its toll on the body in a huge way. For the last three months I have put in regular runs both short and long. I have strength trained my glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and core.

I have listened to my body, have massaged, iced and rested adequately. My diet has been clean and rich in protein, as it is essential to feed the muscles and repair them after heavy exercise.

I have made sure on the long runs my body has has had the correct fuel to enable me to keep going when it got tough.

Some runners will have been genuinely unlucky, they may I'm sure have followed the above rules and still sustained an injury through sheer bad luck. Other runners, and I have encountered quite a few, have taken on one of the biggest fitness challenges there is without even considering the impact the training has on the body.

Another important issue is the nutritional discipline required to feed the body pre- training, during the long runs and post-training. Be kind to your bodies they are amazing machines but just like a car they need the correct fuel to function effectively, they need to be serviced and checked when nuts and bolts have become loose.

Take it easy over these last two weeks, you do not want to crash and burn after 13 miles, if you have truly worked for it over these past months then you know that you deserve to cross that finish line like a true winner. Good luck to all of you.