If you've ever run a marathon—like the New York City Marathon, happening this year on Sunday, November 5—then you know that eating well is a crucial part of preparing and properly fueling your body to run those grueling 26.2 miles.
More specifically, eating carbohydrates: Many distance runners load up on carbs prior to the big race. Meanwhile, runners also have to be mindful of factors like dairy that might upset their stomach or heartburn that would make several hours of running deeply unpleasant. (Even so, in 2021, Grubhub reported that penne alla vodka ranked as the top pasta order in New York on the day before the marathon.)
Shalane Flanagan, who won the New York City Marathon in 2017, told Today that her training meals usually consist of “soups and salty broths” that can replace salt in her body after sweating a lot. She also eats “bison chili, a superfoods soup loaded with beans.” New York City Marathon veteran Mary Keitany chooses a dish from her native Kenya before she races: ugali, a type of corn porridge cooked in water or milk.
No single diet works for every runner. For the nonprofessionals, sometimes it’s about bagels and sandwiches wherever they can get them. We caught up with five runners participating in the New York City Marathon—veterans and first-timers alike—to see what they eat leading up to the race, while they’re on their multihour run, and right after they finish. Spoiler alert: burgers, beer, and pizza, mostly.
Mike Dang, 40, Brooklyn
Dang has run six marathons. He will be running New York’s for the third time.
What's a typical day of eating in the week leading up to the marathon?
I generally start carb-loading three days before the marathon. For me, this means eating about 475 grams of carbohydrates, or the equivalent of 10 bagels a day.
Today, three days before the race, I started my morning by eating two sesame bagels from Black Seed, a bagel chain in the city. I only got a little bit of schmear. (You don't want to fill up on schmear—it's all about the carbs.)
For lunch I got a sandwich from Pret a Manger and salt and vinegar chips—not just for the extra carbs but because of the salt. It's an electrolyte, and you sweat out so much salt during the marathon—it's why they hand out Gatorade on the course. At work my colleagues also brought in rugelach and mini chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. I ate both.
For dinner I'm eating pasta—usually spaghetti with a jarred sauce; in this case, Carbone’s vodka pasta sauce. It's pretty good for jarred sauce.
What do you eat on the day before the race?
I'll eat a bagel the moment I wake up, probably from Black Seed again. Many marathon runners do a two- to three-mile shakeout run. I'm doing it with Bandit Running, a local running brand. They'll provide coffee and bagels after the run and we'll all sit around and eat as much as possible.
I'll fall into a carb-loading haze for the rest of the day. When I ran the Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago, I sat in my hotel room and ate an entire box of Wheat Chex cereal—literally scooping handfuls of dry cereal out of the box and shoving it into my mouth until it was gone. I also consumed whole sleeves of rice cakes. I'll have an early dinner of, you guessed it, pasta. Spaghetti with simple sauce. You don't want a lot of butter and oil to upset your stomach.
I'll drink a bottle of Gatorlyte (it's Gatorade with extra salt), and then it's lights out at 8 p.m.
What do you eat the morning of the race? Why?
I'm up by 3:30 a.m. and the first thing I do is eat a bagel. You want to be able to digest it all in time for the race. I'll have a banana because the potassium is supposed to help with cramping muscles, and I'll have some concentrate beet extract because beets are supposed to help you with your running performance.
At the starting line I'll swallow an energy gel.
Do you bring snacks with you while you run?
Energy gels are these packets with 20 to 25 grams of carbs that taste like flavored jelly or syrup. They come in flavors like lime and strawberry and you often chase them with water. Many marathon runners carry these gels with them as a source of fuel throughout the race and take them every 30 to 40 minutes.
What is the first thing you eat right after the race?
I want something sloppy and disgusting. A big greasy cheeseburger sounds great. But I'll ask for no bun—I can't look at another carb after the marathon.
Jess Howe, 38, Raleigh, NC
This year will be Howe’s first marathon.
What's a typical day of eating in the week leading up to the marathon?
The honest answer is that I have not followed any type of meal plan or diet. My daughters are four and almost two, so I mostly survive on the rejected scraps of my children and the same five meals we rotate through every week.
For this week specifically, I have tried to up my breakfast protein with eggs, yogurt, and the like. Coffee and fruit are a must. Lunches are typically leftovers (like barbecue chicken or taco bowls) or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips, and fruit.
For dinner, a farro bowl with kebab meat, roasted corn, chickpeas, feta, and tzatziki sauce with bread.
Snacks have typically been peanut butter-filled pretzels, cheese, or leftover Halloween candy. Definitely very limited on alcohol, which is not terribly different from what is typical, but I’m more acutely aware of my intake this week.
What do you eat on the day before the race?
Breakfast will be a bagel with some type of protein (eggs, bacon, cheese), good coffee, and fruit.
Lunch will be something light like a sandwich, and dinner will be a good whole-wheat pasta with red sauce and protein and bread. I limit vegetables and fiber because tummy troubles for distance runners are real and devastating.
What do you eat the morning of the race? Why?
Before any long run I make overnight oats with steel-cut oats, walnuts, dried cherries, honey, and this delicious oat milk from Trader Joe’s. Then I’ll grab a banana or some toast and maybe a protein bar. And coffee. Always coffee with half and half.
Do you bring snacks with you while you run?
Having never done this type of distance, snacking while running is new to me. Over the last few months I’ve discovered Gu chews and have also tried trail mix or chocolate chip Larabars. These are easy on my stomach and I get a lot of bang for my buck. Running in North Carolina in the summer was sweaty and miserable, so the trail mix and liquids with a high salt content were extremely important.
What is the first thing you eat right after the race?
Salt. And lots of it. Anything salty. Chips, pretzels, crackers. I love a salt bagel followed by a bagel BLT when I’m ready for a full meal. Sushi for dinner and a glass of wine. And chocolate peanut butter ice cream.
Luke Sampson-Doyle, 31, Brooklyn
This year marks Sampson-Doyle’s fifth New York City marathon, and his fifth overall.
What's a typical day of eating like in the week leading up to the marathon?
Without extra carbs, you'll certainly hit “the wall” around mile 20 to 22. For three to four days leading up to the race, I look for carbs in all my meals. In New York, that looks like bagels, pizza, burrito bowls, and Chinese takeout. Sadly, I don't take in as much dairy because I don't want any...unpredictable bowel movements.
I have a tradition to get Sam's Pizza during the peak training weeks, when I’m running 18 to 21 miles on the weekends. I firmly believe Sam's is the best pizza in New York City and I get it with ricotta, meatball, and garlic. Oh, and water. I drink an absurd amount of water the week before a race.
What do you eat on the day before the race?
I become much more disciplined about my carbs. I want to take in carbs and nutrients and avoid greasy, fatty, and fried food.
Breakfast is overnight oats, a banana, and coffee. In the mid-morning, I have an apple or something like that. For lunch, a snack and a beer is a great carb-loading lunch. In the past, I've frequented Finback Brewery in Glendale, New York, the day before a race. It has a great food menu and the beer is delicious. A lot of runners visit.
At dinner, I'm a sucker for pasta. I try to focus on pastas that don't need too much cheese. (In 2021, I ate pasta out of a parmesan wheel and realized the next day that cheese can be a runner's enemy...) Going to an Italian restaurant the night before the marathon is so magical. There is a runner and their family and friends at every table, and a nervous and excited energy is in the air. The server will always start with, "So who is running tomorrow?" Because they know someone must be.
What do you eat the morning of the race?
I drink coffee. The second I sit down on the Staten Island ferry (about two hours before the start), I eat an English muffin with peanut butter. It's simple and time-tested. I can easily digest it, my stomach won’t be upset by it, and it's packed with the last bit of carbs and protein before the race.
Do you bring snacks with you while you run?
I typically take a Gu chew or gel every 45 minutes or five miles, whichever comes sooner. There are also amazing spectators offering lots of goodies to the runners. My absolute favorite thing to grab from a kind soul are cold clementines. There is nothing—and I mean nothing—more delicious than the cold orange juice that comes out of a clementine at mile 20. At that stage of the race, your body is depleted and flavors taste much more intense. If you've sweat a lot, anything salty kind of burns. One year I also accepted a Coca Cola from a woman handing them out. Do not do that. I burped for the rest of the race.
What is the first thing you eat right after the race?
For the last four to five miles, I start dreaming of wings (literally sometimes to the point of drooling). There is something so primal about running that distance, burning upwards of 3,500 calories, and ripping off the meat of a drumstick. I really don't care about the sauce on it, but I want something sticky and tangy. Oh, and a ridiculous amount of water. Once I'm back to a semi-normal level of hydration, then I want a cold IPA.
Lauren Stone, 23, Dallas
Although Stone ran cross country in high school, this is her first marathon.
What's a typical day of eating in the week leading up to the marathon?
If it's a running day, I'll take a Huma chia energy gel and chug a water before the run.
For breakfast, I'll go for any combination of eggs and toast—usually a breakfast sandwich or bagel—and slurp down a couple more glasses of water. For lunch, I love turkey sandwiches or chicken or steak rice bowls—really anything that has a good amount of carbs and protein.
I have an apple with peanut butter for a snack pretty much every day, and for this week I've been snacking on Goldfish and Cheez-Its too.
For dinner, I'll go for pasta or a rice dish. One night, I went to Joe's Shanghai, a local Chinese restaurant, and got crispy shredded beef and fried rice—it was incredible and perfectly filling.
What do you eat on the day before the race?
The most important thing for me is to eat carb-filled meals throughout the day, rather than just loading up on carbs at dinner. For breakfast, I'll go for a bagel or breakfast sandwich. For lunch, I'll get a sandwich, but steer clear of super saucy or cheesy choices to keep my stomach from hating me later. I'll have an early-ish pasta dinner (of course) of bolognese.
What do you eat the morning of the race?
The simpler, the better. I'll have oatmeal, a banana, and maybe a protein bar—I love RX bars because of their simple ingredients. I'll also have a Huma gel around 15 minutes before the race.
Do you bring snacks with you while you run?
The only snacks I'll bring are the Huma gels. These were the first gels I tried during training, and they work really well for me—I got lucky! I'll take one every three to four miles, for a total of seven gels—three caffeinated, four uncaffeinated.
What is the first thing you eat right after the race?
I'll probably chug a beer to be honest. Then I'll chase it with a big fat pizza. Maybe a quesadilla too.
Nicholas Thompson, 48, Brooklyn
Thompson set the American record for men 45 and older in the 50K race in 2020. He estimates this year will mark his 12th marathon in New York City.
What's a typical day of eating in the week leading up to the marathon?
Monday through Thursday, I overemphasize proteins for breakfast. I'll have granola and yogurt with fruit for breakfast, avocado toast for lunch, and a salmon and rice dish for dinner.
Thursday from lunch until Saturday at dinner, I overemphasize carbs. I'll have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and pasta, with some protein, for dinner. I try to eat food that is easy to digest, is good for the immune system, and makes me feel good. I drink beet juice every day because nitrates help muscle efficiency.
What do you eat on the day before the race?
Oatmeal and fruit, salad, and pasta with tomato sauce. I drink beet juice and make sure to hydrate well with water. I stay away from lactose and anything that could potentially cause indigestion on race day.
What do you eat the morning of the race? Why?
I usually eat a salt bagel, which helps with water storage in the body. I'll put some peanut butter on it as well. I drink coffee either without milk or with soy milk. Then I might eat a second bagel depending on when the race starts, this time with nothing on it.
Do you bring snacks with you while you run?
I take gels every 35 minutes to make sure I have extra carbohydrates in the system. If I feel like I can't digest gels, I switch to Gatorade at the aid stations.
What is the first thing you eat right after the race?
I try to rehydrate and then take in some protein as quickly as I can since it helps with muscle recovery. The ideal is a protein shake, but usually it's just a protein bar or something else that they distribute at the end of the race. In the evening, I make sure to drink some beer.