Packing for a Marathon

Traveling via an airplane for a race is a whole new level of running dedication for me. I have been overwelmed with so many supporters on what I should pack, how I should pack, what I should not let out of my sight and how to not rely on picking anything up on site. It’s honestly been a little bit stressful to check, double check and triple check I have everything I need.

Thanks primarily to Bobbi’s checklist I think I now have it all in order.

Let’s review.

First up is the suitcase I will be checking in.

Inside I have

• Clothes
• Extra dress shoes
• Extra running clothes
• Toiletries
• Hair Dryer
• Straightener

Just in case the bag gets lost, I haven’t packed anything too important in this suit case. Granted I would still have a cow, but I would still be able to race and blog and that’s truly what’s important.

I plan to carry on the plane my lap top and a large bag.

In the laptop bag I have

• Laptop
• Chargers – laptop/ phone/ camera/ Ipod/ Garmin
• Ipod + Headphones
• Garmin
• Camera
• Flip Camcorder
• Extra batteries

I throw all my electronics in this bag just to make it easy to remind myself where I put things.

My final carry on bag is the most important of them all. I am carrying on all of my essential race gear, plus any important information in this bag.

Inside:

• Race Day Outfit (see below for details)
• Food (see below for details)
• Running Shoes w/ Road ID attached
• Empty water bottle
• Book for plane
• Sunglasses
• TNT bag filled with travel + race documents
• Sunscreen
• Jacket
• Wallet

I think I got it all, right?

I thought you guys might be interested to see what I am wearing on race day. I thought long and hard on this and after watching my coach’s race video from the past year I knew I wanted to wear something that made it a tiny bit easier to be picked out of a crowd. There will be thousands of runners on race day all in the same purple singlet, so I turned to my bottoms for the difference.

For those of you who have e-mailed me saying you would be spectating or volunteering on race day please take note what I will be wearing and please feel free to come up and say HI! Just look for the girl in the bright aqua running skirt!

The wonderful people at Sugoi sent me their Moxie running skirt a month ago to review for the blog. I wore it during my 18 miler at the beginning of this month and LOVED it! Its very comfortable, wicks the sweat away and has a great little back pocket that will hold my cellphone on race day.

I will also be running in my Team in Training Dri-fit socks (that go past my ankle, in hopes of preventing blisters) and my Gracie Gear Sports Bra that I love so dearly. I hope to find a head band or sometime fun to wear during the race as well (I hate running in hats).

Since this is my third time on a plane in the past month, I believe I have the eating while traveling down to a science. As always, I made sure to stock up on some healthy snacks for my trip.

  

I already have breakfast prepped and ready to eat once I board the plane in the morning. I actually can’t wait to eat it.

I almost forgot to mention my day of race fuel.

I have packed Clif Shot Bloks, Hammer’s Recoverite, Endurolytes to take with me on the course. There will also be stations providing different flavors of GU along the way. My TNT Coach was encouraging us to train with ‘solid’ foods for the marathon, but even the idea of that didn’t sit well with my stomach. What’s your fueling approach for marathons?

So there are my bags. Packed and all ready to fly off to my first Marathon in CA!

Besides packing, food today really just consisted of my creativity in eating up my fridge.

For my midafternoon snack I munched on some Carrots and the last of my 4 Nuts Butter.

This tiny sampling jar did not last very long and will be dearly missed.

RIP Raw 4 Nuts Butter!

For dinner I just threw any vegetable I could find in my fridge on the steamer and proceeded to cover in marinara sauce & cheese.

The vegetable combination included:

• Spinach
• Carrots
• Broccoli

With Marinara Sauce, a Boca Burger, toasted Corn Tortillas and Raw Goat Cheese on top.

It was actually really tasty and I am happy to say my fridge is now free of anything with the potential of spoiling while I am away

Dessert was 1/2 of Amanda’s Peanut Butter Trail Mix Blondie and some Non-Fat Vanilla Yogurt.

I learned a very important lesson this evening. Heating up a blondie and covering with yogurt is not the same as heating up and covering with ice cream. The yogurt became even more tart and runny. I will not be making that mistake again.   

I’m loading up tonight and heading over to the wonderful Caitlin’s. She has graciously volunteered to wake up early and drive me to the airport. How great of a friend is she?

Next time you hear from me I will be blogging from the air. Good night!