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Post-Race Protocol
After the marathon, congratulate yourself! You made it to the finish line and that is an accomplishment, regardless of your finishing time. Your first acts should include drinking some water or other liquid, turning in your timing chip (if chips are being used) and retrieving your bag. And wrap up in the lightweight “space blankets” that most marathon volunteers will give you at the finish along with your finisher’s medal. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can develop a chill, even on a warm day. If the marathon is using timing chips, race volunteers are almost always available at the finish to help you remove the chip from your shoe. Make sure to turn in your chip or your time won’t be recorded!
If you are ill or injured, look for the medical tent. If you are not ill or injured, get the free post-race massage if it is available, and if you can make the time. Even smaller marathons often have volunteers from local massage schools or physical therapy practices who have set up a tent to tend to marathoners. Ideally, retrieve your bag first, so you can put on something dry while standing in line. You will usually get about 7-10 minutes of easy massage on your legs, back, and shoulders (you stay dressed for this). Even a few minutes of massage helps promote circulation and restores your tired muscles, and you will feel less stiff the next day. If you’re traveling home from the marathon by plane, the massage is an especially good idea because nothing promotes stiff legs like sitting in an airplane seat.
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What If Something Goes Wrong?
A marathon is a long way to run, and anything can happen. Bad things do happen, even to good runners.
If you become ill or injured during a marathon, seek help at the next water stop. If the problem is minor, such as a side stitch or stomach cramp, walk for a few minutes, breathing deeply. If you have a muscle spasm or a muscle feels tight, pull over to the side of the road and stretch. Don’t panic. Walk as much as you need to. There is no reason to worsen a potentially serious injury just to meet your goal time or to finish. If you can finish by alternating running and walking, that’s fine. But if the injury or illness is extreme, you may have to seek care at a water stop or first aid station. You’ll be frustrated, but remember that you can always train for another marathon and use what you have learned during the training process to avoid problems in your next race.
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Eat In Advance
Most marathons start in the morning, and you don’t have time to digest a big breakfast, but eating something before the race helps jump-start your muscles and calm a nervous stomach. Your best bet is to eat what you usually eat before your long runs. Try a banana with some honey and a cup of tea (also with a bit of honey). If the race is later than 10 a.m. and you ate early and feel hungry, snack on an energy bar an hour or so before the start. Drink some water, but resist the urge to over-hydrate. Even on a hot day, your body can only process so much, and you don’t want to make excessive pit stops during the marathon.
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Bring Extra Warmup/Cooldown Clothes For Weather Changes
Wear warm-up clothes before the start of the marathon, and pack them in a bag that you can check or leave in your car so you can put on something warm and dry after the race. Depending on the marathon, you may or may not be in a place where you can change your clothes, but swapping a sweaty shirt for a dry one on a hot day or putting a fleece top over your race shirt on a cold day will make you more comfortable on the way home.
Even though you have chosen your likely clothing for the marathon, bring other options in case of a sudden weather change. If you think that you will wear a long-sleeved shirt, bring a short-sleeved shirt, too, and vice versa. You can pack anything you don’t wear in a bag to check at the start or leave in your car. If you have space in your bag, bring an extra pair of shoes and socks. Your feet will thank you if you can slip them into something different after several hours of running in the same pair of shoes. Although the moisture-wicking socks should keep your feet dry, it feels great to put on a different pair of socks to travel home. Also, if you have developed a blister or a black toenail or some other foot problem, putting on different shoes and socks to travel home will provide some relief until you can take care of the problem.
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Warm Up, But Don’t Wear Out
You don’t need an excessive warm-up before running a marathon the way you might before a 5K or 10K race. Stick to your usual pre-run stretching routine, and if jogging around for 5 minutes or so helps calm your nerves, that’s OK. But resist the urge to spend too much time warming up; you don’t want to wear yourself out. If you are anxious, use the time to do more stretching instead. And especially in a large marathon, the start will be so crowded that you will be running slower than your ideal pace for the first mile or two, which serves as a warm-up. This can be blessing in disguise because it keeps you from running too fast at the start.
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Travel Smart: Allow Extra Time
When traveling to a marathon, whether you have a short drive or a long trip to the airport to catch a flight, leave more time than you think you’ll need. You will have enough on your mind without the stress of being late. Before you close your suitcase, review your race clothes, with a few choices of shirts and shorts for different weather conditions, and your warm-up/cool-down clothes. Double-check to make sure that you have your favorite accessories, such as a sweatband, hat, watch, and packets of gel. If your race is local, set out your likely race clothes, alternative clothes, and warm-up/cool-down clothes so you don’t have to think about what to put on when you wake up on race day.
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Your Marathon Day Kit
The night before the marathon, pack a small bag that you can check at the start and retrieve at the finish. Some marathons provide bags that you are required to use if you want to check them at the start. In that case, be sure to use that bag or you will not be allowed to check your gear. Make sure the bag has a tag with your race number on it. Many marathons provide a matching baggage tag that accompanies every runner’s race number. You can detach this smaller tag and put it on the back that you’ll check at the start.
What should you put in this bag? Eventually your warm-up/cool-down clothes will go in it. But also pack your alternative race clothing options, and a Ziploc bag with the following:
Band-aids in a few different sizes
Pain reliever of choice (Advil, Tylenol)
Sweatproof sunblock
Tissues
Moist towelettes/wet wipes
Extra pins for your race number
A small towel, especially if it is rainy, to mop off after the race
Don’t forget your race number. Some marathons require you to pick up your race number (and timing chip, if chips are used). Make sure to pin your race number to your shirt and thread the chip through your shoelace.
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No Sleep? No Worries
Many marathoners, even the experienced ones, don’t sleep well the night before the marathon. You may be nervous, excited, or both. But don’t worry. Get a good night’s sleep for a night or two before that last night, and you’ll be just as well off than if you slept soundly the night before (not that there’s anything wrong with that). On marathon day you’ll have adrenaline to make up for lost sleep. And you will probably sleep soundly for the next few nights after the marathon.
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Trash Bag: Don’t Leave Home Without It
Believe it or not, a trash bag is the world’s greatest disposable windbreaker. I keep one with my pre-marathon bag and bring it with me even when I know I won’t need to wear it. I wore one for the entire Harrisburg Marathon on 2006 during windy and rainy conditions, and I was surprisingly comfortable wearing a moisture-wicking short-sleeved shirt and shorts underneath the bag, along with a pair of lightweight cotton-blend gloves.
Here’s how to wear your bag in style: Punch a hole in the bottom of the bag and rip an opening large enough to put your head through. Then poke a hole in each side at about shoulder height for your arms, and you’re set to go. Once you start to feel warm, after 1 mile, 5 miles, or at any point, simply grab the bag up near your neck and rip it down the front when you approach the next water stop, and toss it off to the side. As a courtesy to your fellow runners, make sure you toss the bag onto the side of the road so no one near you slips on it.
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Bring Throwaway Layers
A marathon is a long race, and it is often as much as 20 degrees colder at the start than it will be at the finish several hours later. To keep comfortable on a chilly morning, bring a throwaway t-shirt to wear as an extra layer for the first mile or two, or for however long it takes you to feel comfortable. You can use one of those old cotton t-shirts that you don’t wear for running; you will discard it before it gets clammy. If you can’t part with any t-shirts from previous races, an old undershirt or an old windbreaker will do, as will a trash bag (see tip on trash bags for details).
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