I'm a morning runner and find that, even though I can make it through a short run, it's a lot easier (and enjoyable) when I have a little something to eat.  Solid foods tend to give me stitches and I can't stand bananas, so I actually eat baby food.  On the lower calorie end (60-70), the sweet potatoes and apple based varieties are the ones I find most palatable.  For my longer runs, I eat the oatmeal or rice cereal varieties which have about 100 calories.

I'm - usually - an evening runner, so I've usually had plenty to eat during the day. However some days of the week I do run in the morning, and I tend to eat a proper breakfast about 30-45mins before I run. I find if I don't eat in the morning before a morning run my blood sugar drops lower than I'd like it to.

I am new, so no expert, but someone I talked to recommended a piece of fruit about a half hour before your run.  It  only takes about 20 minutes to digest fruit and I think it helps my blood sugar issues.

Hi Michelle. I'm assuming that C25K is a walk-to-run program? Is that correct? (I finished one in July.) As far as your knee goes, it may not actually be your knee that is the problem. Get some oil to massage your quadraceps with and see if there are any knots there (olive oil is ok). Tightness ( a knot) in your quadraceps can translate into knee pain, without there actually being anything wrong with your knee at all. Regarding your race on friday night, I would run today, (monday), run on wednesday, and make sure you take a nice long 30-60 minute walk on thursday. Rest up on friday. Since your race is not till 10:00p.m., eat a full dinner and save a piece of fruit for a half hour before the race. Good luck and congratulations on your first 5K. It is new runners like you who are the real heroes. Paul

Michelle, when I clicked on Reply earlier, somehow, it showed a different post from someone with a knee problem, so i figured I'd combine the two.. I don't know how often that kind of error happens at this site.  Just remember not to run on thursday. Ok?

I think we should make a clear distinction between what we do for training and racing. On race day, we need to be adequately fueled, rested and stretched.

Angel, don't get nervous.., get happy! You'll love it. Just remember not to start off too fast. If you let yourself get hurried at the beginning, then you might feel some fatigue toward the end of the race. It's almost fall, so temps will be cool and it will be easy to breathe. I'm running my fourth 5K this weekend. I guess I'm nervous, too, but in a good way!

Eat 3 hours before the half marathon? Thanks for the advice. I don't know if I will ever get up to that distance (I'll start running 10K's starting in March or April), but it's good to know that there are people at this site who have done these longer runs and are good enough to part with their knowlege of nutrition. Since I am only running 5K's now, I don't alter my eating much pre-race. I just eat bread and honey two hours before, like before training runs, and have a banana 30 minutes before the race.

To tell the truth, though, for the rare training runs when I did not eat at all before, I did not suffer any less energy or lack-of-performance. I guess the nutrition starts to play in increasingly important role in the longer races and runs.