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
Check week planning, travel
Grocery shopping (for that week, or once in destination)
Salted pretzels
Fruit
Nutella
Bread, cookies
Oatmeal
Gatorade
Dark chocolate
Water
Nuts
Cereal
Day before the marathon
Eat (Maurten Drink Mix, Pretzels, salty foods) -prepare what you’ll eat on top of the counter to pre-asses. If needed, here is a detail of what I eat the day before and the morning of a marathon for reference.
Tape marathon bag (I like to duct tape it in case in breaks!)
Sleeping drops/pills
Earplugs
Phone charger
Earbuds player charger
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: nutrition bars, gels, bagel, banana, whatever you eat
Salt pills or chews
Wet wipes or Toilet Paper
Bodyglide
Trash bags to sit on/wear
Poncho for warmth or rain
Long socks for arm warmers for the first miles, example
Gels to eat before
Gloves, hat, fleece headband
Throwaway warm clothes: sweatshirt, pullover
Heat packets for hands/feet
Kleenex
Marathon Day: for the Race
Pace bracelet (this one is my favorite!)
Set the playlist
Bib and pins
Music
Hat/visor for rain
Sunglasses
GPS watch
Home keys
Gels (5, 10, 15, 20: four gels)
Chapstick
Clothes (shoes, hair bands, headband, shirt, bra, shorts/tights, socks, underwear, tshirt)
Heat packets for hands/feet for the start
Wet wipes
Little towel/Kleenex
Tylenol
Credit card, money/Metrocard
Salt Chews or S-caps
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!
Wow, that’s a complete and impressive list! I just cleared my Garmin after reading your post. Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Contēnt Cōntent, Inc.ontaminate and commented:
I’ll take it! 🙂
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I know you don’t drink…but the post race list is missing beer 🙂
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on here. Regards
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it’s in there!!! or maybe I took it out?
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What are sleeping drops??? I feel so unprepared now. Thank you for posting!
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hahaha, don’t!!!! I use drops sometimes when I have time falling asleep early, like Melatonin. But nothing new on Marathon Day. if you want, you can start trying them now and see if they work for you!
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You are a nutella nut! So funny and awesome. Thanks for the list.
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