Steer clear of water, cheese, wine...

I always sensed that the best pre-running beverage was a cappuccino (preferably from Downtown Delicious, a now-defunct coffee bar near my high school); turns out I was, if not right, then maybe not altogether wrong.

But while water may be overrated, cheese, like water, kills. Or at least food-poisons.

Wine, meanwhile, will also do you in, or will, if nothing else, make you so drunk that you begin to eat cheese and drink water as if they were both, err, water.