Race-day checklist

Most race-day problems are decided the night before. A forgotten bib, an untried gel, shoes you have never run in: these are not bad luck, they are preventable. This checklist covers the night before, the morning, the start, the race itself, and the finish. Print it or save it. Use it the same way every time, and race day gets boring in the best sense.

The night before

Lay out everything. Bib (pinned to your shirt already, if the race allows it), shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, watch charged, gels, safety pins, and a bag for the finish. Laying it out the night before removes every morning decision. Race mornings start early and your brain is not at its best at 4 AM.

Eat a normal dinner. Not a feast, not something new. Rice, pasta, bread, something you have eaten before a long run. Drink water through the evening, but stop forcing water an hour before bed or you will be up all night.

Check three things on the organiser's page, not just the race listing. The reporting time (when you must reach the venue, which is earlier than the start), the bag-drop location, and the route map. Start time and reporting time are different, and confusing them is the most common way to miss a start.

Sleep, but do not panic about it. Many runners sleep badly the night before a race. It barely matters. The sleep from two nights before counts more. Go to bed at your normal time, and if you lie awake, lie awake. You will still run.

Race morning

Wake up at least 2 hours before the start. Eat breakfast you have practised: toast, banana, coffee if you normally drink it. Nothing new. Use the bathroom twice if you can. Races have queues for toilets, and the queue is longest 20 minutes before the start.

Arrive by the reporting time. Reach the venue, drop your bag, find your start corral, and warm up. A 10-minute easy jog plus a few strides is enough. The warm-up is also your last chance to notice a problem: a shoe that feels wrong, a watch that will not start, a bib that is loose.

Pin the bib where it is visible. Front of your shirt, all four corners if you have four pins. Timing mats read the chip on the bib. A bib folded under a jacket or pinned to your back can cost you an official time.

Do not wear anything new. Not shoes, not socks, not a shirt, not a gel flavour. Race day is the worst time to discover a blister, a chafe, or a stomach that disagrees. Everything you wear and eat should have survived at least one long run already.

At the start

Start slower than you feel like. The first 2 km of every race feel easy, because of adrenaline and the crowd. That feeling lies. Run your planned pace from the first kilometre, even if it feels too slow. The runners who pass you in km 2 are the runners you will pass at km 30.

Ignore the first kilometre split. GPS watches are unreliable in the first kilometre, especially under a start-line crowd. Judge the first 5 km by effort, then trust the watch once it settles.

During the race

Fuel on a schedule, not on feeling. By the time you feel hungry or thirsty in a marathon, you are already behind. If your plan says a gel every 45 minutes, take it every 45 minutes, starting earlier than feels necessary. I took my first fuel at km 20 in my first marathon and hit the wall at km 31. The schedule exists so you do not have to learn that lesson yourself.

Drink at every station, even if you are not thirsty. Small sips, not a full cup. Walk through the station if you need to. Ten seconds at a water station costs less than a kilometre of dehydration later.

Break the race into pieces. Do not think about 42 km. Think about the next water station, the next 5 km marker, the next gel. A marathon is a series of small races. The last 10 km are where the race actually happens, and you want to arrive there with something left.

If something goes wrong, slow down before you stop. A stitch, a cramp, a shoe issue: ease off, walk 200 metres, reassess. Most problems pass. Stopping completely makes restarting much harder, physically and mentally.

At the finish

Keep walking for 10 minutes. Do not sit down immediately. Walk, drink, eat something salty. Collect your medal, find your bag, change into dry clothes.

Eat within an hour. Your body is primed to recover in the first hour after a hard effort. A normal meal is enough. You do not need a special recovery product. You need food, water, and sleep.

Write down three things before the day ends. Your finish time, what went right, and what went wrong. Memory fades fast, and this note is what makes your next race better. It takes two minutes. It is the most valuable thing you will do all day, after finishing.

The one-line version

Practice everything in training, arrive early, start slow, fuel on schedule, and write it down after. Do that, and race day takes care of itself.