Geoff Beattie Geoff Beattie is Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University and the author of 21 books, including ‘Get the Edge: How Simple Changes Will Transform Your Life’ (Headline) and ‘Rethinking Body Language. How Hand Movements Reveal Hidden Thoughts’ (Routledge). He was the resident psychologist on Big Brother for 11 series. So race day approaches, and you’ve spent many months training for the big event. You’ve done the miles in training, in all sorts of weather, and you’re ready to go. Or are you? There’s the other side of any athletic event – the psychological side. We’ve all heard that sports psychologists are making huge differences to performance in a wide range of sports, but for the ordinary runner this tends to be the neglected area. Running clubs can, of course, help in the psychological preparation, they provide support, friendly competition, advice, the feeling that you’re not alone, but is there anything else that you can do to stay positive and focused
