Sat 10 Oct 2007Running out of time . . .Marathon Countdown:The training may be over, but
the last 48 hours before the race are crucial to your performance,
writes
Ian O'Riordan.'Men, today we die a little." So said Emil Zatopek at the start
of the 1956 Olympic marathon, and he knew what he was talking
about. The great Czech runner had won the gold medal four years
previously, only this time, after hitting the marathon's infamous
"wall", he ended up sixth - finishing in a trance-like state of
exhaustion.