I’ve sent this to sooo many people so many times, I figured it’d be easier to just post it here and share it. You’ll have to adjust it to YOUR needs, but after you do it once, it’ll take the stress out of any marathon, mostly if it’s out of town… there is waaaay too much stuff in there, yes, but it would serve you better to delete things than to forget to put them in there. They will remind you of things you need and I didn’t include! (whaaaat?)

I organized it in stages, so it’s both a packing list and a to-do list.

Week before
Prepare playlist
Clear GPS watch’s old data, just in case.

Grocery shopping (once in destination)
Salted pretzels
Fruit
Nutella
Bread, cookies
Oatmeal
Gatorade
Dark chocolate
Water
Nuts
Cereal

Day before the marathon
Eat (nutella, Gatorade, Pretzels, salt) -prepare what you’ll eat on top of the counter to pre-asses.
Tape marathon bag (I like to duct tape it in case in breaks!)
Sleeping drops/pills
Earplugs
Phone charger
Mp3 player charger
GPS watch charger
Tape (for anything)
Duck tape for shirt letters, scissors, and sharpie
Put phone numbers in the back of the bib

Marathon Day: for the Athlete’s Village (the start)
Sunscreen
Prerace food:  power bars, gels, bagel, banana, whatever
Salt
Wet wipes or Toilet Paper
Bodyglide
Trash bags to sit on/wear
Poncho
Long socks for arm warmers for the first miles
Gels to eat before
Gloves, hat, fleece headband
Throwaway warm clothes: sweatshirt, pullover
Thin bag pack to put stuff inside marathon bag
Heat packets for hands/feet
Kleenex
Pen, you always need a pen…

Marathon Day: for the Race
Pace bracelet (this one is my favorite!)
Set the playlist
Bib and pins
Mp3 player
Hat/visor for rain
Sunglasses
GPS watch
Heart rate monitor
Home keys
Gels (5, 10, 15, 20: four gels)
Chapstick
Clothes (shoes, hair bands, headband, shirt, bra, shorts/tights, socks, underwear, tshirt)
Pace bracelet bands to put gels/mp3 player
Heat packets for hands/feet
Wet wipes
Little towel/Kleenex
Tylenol
Credit card, money/Metrocard
Salt packet or S-caps
Shoetag with your info
Mylar blanket
handheld bottle

Marathon Day: After the race, in the checked bag
flipflops
socks
extra shirt
deodorant
warm clothes
food
bandaids
cell phone
tiger balm, neosporin
marathon stick

Day after the race
Gelato
Boston Cremes
ICE
NY Times

Go wild and adjust it to your needs!