A runner runs on his stomach

Double fish and chips? What could go wrong?

There's a story about Jack Charlton's time in charge of the Irish football team. The night before a big game, he took the team to Harry Ramsden's, where they feasted on the sort of meal that would make the guy from Man Versus Food shudder. Then they went out and played the game. Unsurprisingly, they lost, much to the annoyance of the usually placid Roy Keane.

Despite the unsuccessful nature of this experiment, I decided it was worth further exploration. Not for me a nutritional meal involving pasta and protein the night before a race. Nope, the evening before the Doonhamer 10k in Dumfries I was out with a friend in a burger restaurant, stuffing my face with a three course meal. Plenty of carbs but not a lot else.

Can't see a problem with having this the night before a race

The 10k was my first race after my injury woes had wrecked my holiday plans. The running club had covered the course on the Monday night and it was relatively flat, apart from a challenging bit towards the end, but seemed to last forever. By this point I'd been back running for around a month so it shouldn't have been too much of a problem - until I decided to gorge on food the night before.

Unsurprisingly, I wasn't feeling my best as I got ready. I still felt pretty bloated and breakfast, water and Lucozade doing nothing to help the matter. All they did was ensure that I made many trips to the loo before the race itself. I'd been hoping, if I got a really good run, for 8 minute miles, which would see me home in around 48 minutes, but my physical state combined with how Monday's run had been did not leave me feeling too confident.

Another howitzer from Hitzelsperger

After the success of listening to a Graham Hunter Big Interview podcast during the Kirkcudbright race, this time I opted for another one with Thomas Hitzelsperger. Fortunately headphones were allowed and after several attempts to take a group photo of the club members (there were around 50 of us so it was quite difficult) it was time to get underway.

The route was along the River Nith in Dumfries, crossing over several times. At various points there was music which was nice, even if it did drown out what I was trying to listen to. Again I took things easy at the start - glad not to befall the fate of one club member whose shoelace came undone - and settled into a rhythm alongside someone who seemed to be going at a similar pace.

This river would be crossed many times

We hit a problem at one of the river crossings, which used a rather narrow footbridge. At this precise moment an old chap decided he was in desperate need to cross the bridge, which threatened to hold us up before we just managed to edge him out (thankfully without pushing him over the bridge, although it was considered).

At half-way it was time to take on some water and, with the previous night's burger working it's way through my system, time to pick up the pace. Gradually I began reeling in other folk from the club who I thought were much faster than me, yet I was able to pass them and pull away with ease. The hill towards the end wasn't really a problem, partly because it was quickly followed by a hill back down, and then it was on to the finish line at the park.

As I came on to the home straight I upped my pace again, determined not to let anyone pass. Despite not being very long it seemed to last forever, however as I came towards the line I was shocked to see the first part of the clock show the race time as 46 minutes. Surely that couldn't be right?

These things are fairly reliable, you know

Incredibly (although perhaps not surprisingly, it is a clock after all) it was indeed correct and I crossed the line in 46:30, well below what I'd optimistically aimed for. I was 59th, comfortably in the top third of a field of nearly 200, and finished ahead of lots of other folk from the club.

So there you had it. Burgers, chips, chocolate brownies and onion rings the night before a big race can work after all - but I had no intention of repeating that approach for Dumfries Half Marathon at the end of September a few weeks later...