The marathon has become one of those things which many of us dream of accomplishing at least once in our lifetime. In the marathon, the highs, the lows, the adversity, the despair, the euphoria come one after another - it really is like living an entire lifetime in the space of a few hours! Here are a few tips on making the marathon a more enjoyable experience:

Rein yourself in at the start. The most common marathon mistake is to run out too fast. If you have trained well and tapered well, your body will be naturally full of energy and raring to go, and it can be very tempting to cover the first few miles in faster than the planned race distance. Some experienced runners recommend actually starting slightly slower than race pace and gradually building up to race pace over three or four miles; this has the advantage in that altering race pace over the distance spreads the strain over disfferent leg muscles. Other runners prefer to just start at race pace because they feel that if they start slow they will 'settle' into that pace. Either way the main thing is not to go out faster; however, if you do notice that for the first mile you have gone out too fast (this happens absolutely everyone at one time or another), not to worry, just adjust your pace for the next mile.

During the first half of the marathon, stay in the present moment, and enjoy yourself. Many times during a long race we can ruin the experience we are having now by thinking of how hard it will be near the end of the race. Why let tomorrow ruin today's joy, as my meditation teacher and athletics coach Sri Chinmoy always says, and I find this nugget of wisdom coming to mind every time my mind starts thinking with trepidation about what it will be like during the twenty-mile mark. You've trained properly for the marathon (please tell me you have :) ), and at least during the first half of it you shouldn't have too many major problems, so you should spend that time enjoying the experience, the crowds, and the shared experience of with all your fellow runners, people from all walks of life all aiming to overcome the same challenge - you don't get to run a marathon every day!

When that twenty-mile mark does hit and physically you feel the worse for wear, you can try a couple of things. Try and focus on what is going on around you; if you are running through somewhere scenic try and connect with nature instead of with your flagging body. You can even look up at the sky and try to connect with the peace, vastness and infinity it embodies; this can definitely help your own sufferings feel rather small in comparison. Alternatively, instead of looking outside yourself, you can go deep within and focus on the heart centre - that place in the middle of your chest where you can feel the core of your existence. Try and feel that you are not the body or the mind; you are only the heart and you are running from the heart.

This may sound funny, but one thing that has really helped me over tough times during marathons is actually feeling grateful. Many people live their entire lives in a comfort zone, never pushing their boundaries or finding out what they are truly capable of. In every marathon, you come across a challenge which you have to go beyond, and you really do become a bigger and better person as a result. Try and evoke a feeling of gratitude form the heart - this will in turn make you focus less of the hardships and more on the unique experience of running. In fact you may feel part of you doesn't want the race to end!