People that say “You’ll be glad of the rain, it will cool you down” may be trying to be helpful, but have clearly not run a marathon, and definitely not run one in the rain. Wet running kit is heavy, it sticks to you and it chafes. That is not the ideal recipe for a fun 26.2 mile run. But you can’t control the weather on marathon day, so what are you going to do? Here’s what I suggest…

Get a cap – it will keep the rain out of your eyes so that you can at least see where you’re going.

Get some gloves – wet hands get cold. So get some gloves.

Take a bin bag – you’re going to get wet running and that will be uncomfortable be bearable. But standing around at the start getting soaked will make you cold and grumpy. Take a bin bag, cut a head hole in it and stay (sort of) dry.

Go out in the rain – we all know to test out our kit before the big day, but have you tested it in the rain? There’s still the opportunity for last minute kit changes and for you to decide maybe it’s not the right year for that gorilla costume after all.

Be middle-of-the-road – most roads have a camber meaning they’re slightly curved and higher in the centre than either side. Stick to the middle of the road and you won’t find yourself splashing through as much water on the ground.

Don’t think about quitting – you’ve trained for months for this one day. Don’t let a bit of rain put you off. The Boston marathon may have taken the unprecedented steps this year of letting entrants defer their place to next year because of the weather but that’s because it was ridiculously hot. A bit of rain might be uncomfortable, but it won’t do you any harm. Well, other than chaffing. So relax and enjoy the day.

PBs are still possible – if you don’t believe me just read how Claire of ‘Will Run For Beer‘ got a marathon PB of 3:24 in torrential rain.