🏃 Marathon race day checklist

Written for the morning you will not be thinking clearly. Lay everything out the night before, in one place, and the only decision at five is what to eat.

42 items

1. The night before
2. Pin the number to the vest you are actually wearingFour pins, corners, and check it clears your watch arm.
3. Timing chip on the shoe, if it is separate
4. Lay out every piece of kit in one place
5. Charge the watch and the headphones
6. Check the start time, the wave and the travel plan
7. Two alarms
8. Breakfast bought and in the room
9. What you run in — nothing new
10. Shoes you have already run in
11. Socks that have never given you a blister
12. Shorts or tights
13. Vest with the number on
14. Sports bra, if you wear one
15. Watch
16. Cap and sunglasses, or a hat and gloves
17. Anti-chafe balm, applied generously
18. Fuel
19. Breakfast you have eaten before a long run before
20. Gels, the number you practised with×5
21. Electrolyte tablets
22. A bottle for the start line
23. Know where the water stations are
24. The bag drop
25. The label they sent, attached
26. Dry clothes for afterwards, including socks
27. A jumper — you get cold fast when you stop
28. Flip-flops or loose shoes
29. Phone, keys and money
30. Something to eat that is not a gel
31. Wet wipes
32. The start
33. An old top to throw away when the gun goes
34. Toilet plan, and the queue is longer than you think
35. Agree with anyone meeting you where and when
36. Vaseline on the feet and anywhere that rubs
37. Get in the right pen
38. Afterwards
39. Eat and drink something in the first thirty minutes
40. Warm layer on before you cool down
41. Collect the bag before you sit down
42. A plan to get home that does not need you to walk far