Shae W Sandal 054-2646 Hot Coral R46Important Advice for Anyone Running a Big-City Race

You’ll wake before dawn to get to the start of most major marathons, but you may not step into a corral until hours later. To simulate race day, follow the same timing before at least a couple of key long runs, experimenting with when and what you eat, Honerkamp says.

Eat a full meal—such as a bagel with sliced banana, a spoonful of nut butter, and a drizzle of honey—two to three hours prerace, says Heather Caplan, R.D., a Washington, D.C.-based dietitian and coach who will run her fourth Marine Corps this year. Then have a small snack (about 100 calories) of easily digestible carbs 20 to 30 minutes before go time. Longer wait? Add a snack shortly after you wake, and make your breakfast and prerace snack portable for easy carrying to the start area.

“Throwaway clothes are key because it may be freezing at the starting line,” Honerkamp says. Even if you check a bag, you will have to part with that gear well before the starting gun. Carry an old blanket and wear clothes you can toss at the starting line—sweatpants, a long-sleeve T-shirt, an old jacket, and a hat and gloves if needed. (Many races donate castoffs.) And don’t ditch your duds too early: In the biggest races, you may spend upward of 15 minutes moving toward the starting line before you cross it.

If possible, plan a postrace meeting with someone in your cheer squad who’s toting dry clothes, a snack, and anything else you need; that way, you can skip bag drop and pickup and clear prerace security more quickly.

Don’t collapse onto the couch after your long runs: “Walk a half-mile to the bagel store and then back home,” Honerkamp says, to learn to keep moving for at least another 10 to 15 minutes on tired legs. In a race with tens of thousands of finishers, long finishing chutes are common: In New York, for example, there’s about a mile between the finish line and where you can pick up your checked bag and exit Central Park. And at any big race, unless you scored a hotel room right by the finish, you’ll likely have to navigate crowded streets and subways to get to where you’re staying. Grab some snacks on your way out of the finish area to start the refueling process, Caplan says, since it may be a while before you get to your bag or celebration brunch.