Ultimate Tips to Help Prepare You for Your First International Marathon! Ep122

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Richard Conner: Hey, my friend, are you looking to run your first marathon or maybe the next, and maybe you’re looking to spice things up a little bit. Well, I’m going to share with you in this episode about my experience running, not only my first marathon. My first international marathon, and I’m gonna share some tips to help you along your journey.

Hope you enjoy.

Intro/Outro: Welcome to inspire to run podcast. Here, you will find inspiration, whether you’re looking to take control of your health and fitness, or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation, you will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts.

Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.

Richard Conner: Hey, my friend, welcome to inspire to run podcast. I’m so excited to record this episode and share my latest journey with you, which is running not only my first marathon, but my first international marathon. And I learned a lot along the [00:01:00] process. And, you know, I want to share with you why decided to run a marathon overseas versus here in the U S and what are the things that I learned kind of along the way.

So I’m gonna share with you 10 tips. You can call them do’s and don’ts, um, as you’re preparing for either your first marathon or your next marathon, if it’s overseas. So first we’ll talk a little bit about why chose, you know, an international marathon. Um, so about this time last year I had set the intention to run my first marathon. And, you know, over the last few years I have been kind of on this journey of doing things I’ve never done before. Uh, related to fitness and that included doing obstacle course racing as well as, you know, different levels of road races, four mile or five mile or quarter marathon all the way up to half marathon. And I felt like it was time for me to do my first marathon. And this is something, you know, I’ve been thinking about for a long time. And I don’t know if [00:02:00] this is something that would necessarily continue to do, but at the very least, I wanted to say, at least I ran it once in my life. So I set the intention last year.

And then, you know, one of the big goals that I had around running a marathon was I wanted it to be memorable. And, you know, I was thinking about. What if I could run one of the world majors, like that would be really cool and that would be memorable. And the one that’s closest to me is New York city.

So when that’d be great, if I could run the New York city marathon, And if, you know, there’s, you know, a few different ways you can get into some of these marathons, like the world majors. You know, number one, you can qualify by time, which I wasn’t really in a position to do. But you can also do the lottery, which depending on the marathon, you may get any, you may not. And you could do a fundraiser or, you know, specific to New York city.

You could do what they call a nine plus one and the nine plus one is your run. Nine races. In New York [00:03:00] city, you know, sponsored by the New York road runners. Or, and do you volunteer for one race? And I live. Relatively close to New York city, but not close enough to run nine races. And volunteer for one.

I mean, that would be my pretty much my entire race season for the year. So that wasn’t really an option for me. So I was probably about late spring, early summer. Where, you know, I just really found out that I wasn’t going to be able to get into the New York city marathon, but I still had that goal to run it this year to run a marathon that’s and. I wanted it to be memorable. And I just, I don’t even know how it came to me, but I just thought about this marathon called the Beaujolais. International marathon in France that my friends have run in the past.

And they’ve told me about, and, you know, I spent a lot of time at France over the last, you know, almost 10 years. I love being in France. I love the culture there. I love the areas that I’ve visited. And I’ve a number of friends there and I [00:04:00] just thought to myself, wouldn’t that be so cool for me to run my first marathon? And France, and that would definitely check the box for being, you know, a memorable marathon and, you know, I’m sure I can get. Other experiences and other races across the U S. But this one was not only special because as in the place that I knew and I really enjoy being in, but it also gave me the opportunity to run the race with friends.

And that was something that was really cool because that’s not something I get to do very often, especially for. Road races. So. Immediately. I contacted my friends. I was like, this is what I want to do. And, you know, and I signed up for the race. And what I like to do is kind of share with you a little bit of the story. As a share with you kind of these. 10 tips to make sure that you have a smooth and successful experience.

If you’re planning to run your first international marathon. And let’s just kind of get [00:05:00] into it. So share with you starting with number one. Is you want to research the course and the weather? So this is one that I got half, right. So the part that I got wrong was I didn’t research the chorus. So this, and it’s something I don’t normally do with races, even if there were us races is just, don’t normally look at the corset and I really should. But you want to understand, you know, the, the chorus, the terrain, the elevation. And I didn’t do any of that.

And as I’m talking about, Hey, I’m going to do this visually international marathon and France. Uh, one of my colleagues had shared with me a website that I’ve never heard of before, but it’s totally awesome. And I’m going to share it with you now, and I’m gonna put a link in the show notes. It’s called plot a route. P L O T a R O U T E.

And basically. Gives runners. The opportunity to map out an entire core is for a race and you could see the elevation and other aspects of the race. And one [00:06:00] thing that I learned about this race. Pretty much. A week before. Was that it was super hilly. And I know that I didn’t do as much hill work in my training, so I wasn’t properly prepared for all the Hills in this race that I didn’t learn. Kind of until right before the race.

So mentally I kinda knew what I was getting into, but physically, you know, I had not prepared in a way that I really should have. So this is something that you really want to check it to, no matter what race you’re doing, but especially. If you’re traveling to a region or country that you’re just not familiar with. I would say, you know, check this out and this works for a race in France.

I’m sure it’s going to work in a lot of places and in other countries. So that was, um, that was one thing, but I would say that, you know, even though it was hilly, the course was absolutely beautiful. This was such a beautiful. Area. I mean, you’re basically running in wine country. And, you know, just to give you a little bit of background on the, on the Beaujolais international marathon.

So this is the time of year [00:07:00] where, you know, it’s kind of all centered around. Um, The Beaujolais. Usually wine that they’re releasing for the season. And it’s super cool because they have these festivals and, and they have the marathon. And through the course, you’re running through vineyards and you’re running through castles and you’re, you know, it’s just such a beautiful area, but they’re also serving wine in these castles.

And, uh, It’s such a super cool experience. So, you know, share it a few pictures on social media. Uh, of, um, pictures that I took and also the professional photos, which just came out so wonderful. So it was beautiful. It was hilly, it was a challenging course, but definitely check the box of being memorable. So the second part of this that I think I did do pretty well is around the weather.

So I’m very familiar with the region. I’m very familiar with the weather and, you know, it tended to be a little bit warmer than where I am in the Northeast. But, you know, this time of year, it’s still pretty chilly. [00:08:00] So I just plan appropriately and I just planned for multiple layers plus my hat and my gloves.

So all of that worked out really well. I would say that I was a little disappointed. On race day that morning, it was 29 degrees when we’re getting on the shuttle to go up to the starting line. So that was a little disappointing that it was so cold, but fortunately I was dressed appropriately. So that was good.

And then, you know, I would say that the temperature Rose A. Little bit during the day as the sun came out and it was quite comfortable, like it wasn’t really an issue. During the race as much as I thought it was going to be, but that’s the only because I was somewhat familiar with the weather and I had prepared appropriately.

So really important point there to research the course ahead of time. As well as research the weather.

The second tip here is book your flights and accommodation early. So. Again, I kinda got this half, right. So in terms of booking the flights, when I, you know, made the decision [00:09:00] to run this marathon, Um, you know, I know in the past kind of traveling to France or traveling to Europe, Tended to be really expensive, but I was pleasantly surprised that when I booked my trip this time that it wasn’t as expensive as it had been in the past.

So, you know, definitely booking early is going to get you. You know, a better price, better prices on flights, but you could do whatever process works for you. You could watch the flights and there’s definitely different apps that allow you to do that, which you know, whether you do it through like hopper or Expedia, but you definitely want to get started on looking at the flights early and then book it when you know, it works for you. And then the second part of this, which I didn’t do well is booking your accommodations early.

So, you know, I wanted to book the accommodation. So basically where this race was was. Kind of in between where Paris is and Leon and Leon is about, you know, an hour to two hours south of Paris. And the race is just north of Leon. And I [00:10:00] wanted to get it, get close to where the race would be, where the shuttle will take you to the starting line. Just so I didn’t have to get up even earlier in the morning and then, you know, take a long Uber ride to, you know, the shuttles and all of that.

So just as close as possible, but. I didn’t book my hotel as early as I really should have, because. A lot of those hotels were really kind of booked up by the time I got around to it. And so in my case, it worked out. Okay. Cause I did book a hotel in Leone and I’m very familiar with the city. You know, I can get around the own unit very well.

It’s beautiful. It’s got a lot of great places to eat. A lot of, you know, beautiful place to run. So it kind of worked out the way it did it anyway, but again, I really should have booked it a lot earlier, just so I don’t have that stress of like, where am I going to stay and how am I going to get to the race?

So that’s tip number two is make sure you book your flights. And your accommodation early. [00:11:00] Tip number three is you want to understand the race logistics. So what is the race packet pickup look like? And the start times and transportation and all of those types of things. And that’s an area where it really helps to have kind of the local friends or contacts in the country that you’re traveling to. And or if you’re, there’s an organization that. Um, manages your travel, like there’s destination trips, or you can, they’ll arrange your travel and they’ll arrange your, you know, kind of the, the race for you, which I haven’t done personally.

But now having gone through this experience, I’m actually very interested in doing that. To travel to other places where I don’t have friends or contacts or know anything really about the country. I definitely would sign up with one of those, uh, organizations or companies that would. Really support me. And traveling to one of those places, if I don’t know the country or the language or the culture, et cetera, et cetera. So in this case, I did have friends [00:12:00] that were able to help me.

And it’s kind of an interesting story because I arrived a couple of days before the race and I had dinner with my friends. And one of them had offered to go and pick up my packet for me because there was a bit of a drive to get out there and said, I have to take, you know, an expensive Uber to get out there and pick up my stuff and you know, another Uber to get back.

So he offered to just pick it up for me and bring it to me on race day, which worked out perfectly for me. But as he was kind of checking my information to make sure my registration was, was good. He noticed that. My registration was incomplete. Which was odd to me because I filled out everything even after the email me and say complete your registration, which I did.

And they asked me about, you know, my shirt size and some information about me. And I did all that stuff. But I didn’t read everything carefully and it was in French and they just didn’t take the time to read everything carefully. And there was one thing in there just about, you know, going through their health kind of checks.

So you had to watch these health and safety videos and then acknowledged that [00:13:00] you’re, you know, in good health, in good shape to run the marathon. And I didn’t do any of that cause I just missed it. I didn’t read it properly. So had my friend not picked it up, who knows whatever happened. I wouldn’t have been able to get my packet. Um, I wouldn’t have been able to run the race and I traveled all that way to, to do this.

And, you know, I potentially could have had that issue. So it’s just really helpful for you to understand those logistics. And have someone help you through that process, whether it’s someone, you know, or some, you know, company, organization who’s arranging everything for you.

The next tip is around. You know, checking your, the visa. Uh, requirements or whatever is required to enter the, the country. So depending on, you know, where you’re from and what passport you have, you’ll have different requirements. So for me, with a us passport, you know, I don’t have any specific requirements to get into France, but, you know, and typically the airlines will also tell you what you need.

So if you just Dean. And your passport, if you’re all sitting at a visa, but I have [00:14:00] traveled to countries where they required a visa. And then some cases. It’s a really long and tedious process. You know, they ask you a lot of questions and one country even asked me questions about my parents. So, you know, this is just, again, kind of like booking your flights and accommodations early.

You want to make sure that you check into what are the requirements to enter the country. Early. So you can go through those processes and not be stressed and not have to rush through all that process.

So. Tip number five is adjust to the time zone. So this is something that I think I did really well. You know, the recommendation is that you want to get to your destination at least three to five days before the race. So you can really adjust to the local time zone. I tend to. You know, when I’m traveling, I tend to try to get right in when I need to be there and I try to leave right.

When I, you know, as soon as I can. So to kind of minimize the time that I traveled since, you know, in the past. And even sometimes now I travel [00:15:00] quite a bit. So having a lot of time. You know, away from home is not ideal. So I really try to do it as concise as possible. But for something like this, you really want to get in, you know, ahead of time.

So you could adjust and you can reduce jet lag. So I can tell you, in my case, I left New York on a Wednesday night. I arrived in Thursday on a pair. Um, sorry, arrived. In Paris on Thursday morning. Or I’ve been Lyon on Thursday morning, so Paris time. And then I ran the race on Saturday. So Thursday, all day. I was doing great. No problems on Thursday, Friday was a completely different story. I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning.

I finally got enough energy to get out of bed. And by that time I was able to get out a little bit and it was, it was just about time for lunch. So my first meal of the day was lunch, which is not ideal. And then even after lunch, Um, [00:16:00] I even slept for another hour and then after that it was okay. So I, you know, stayed up quite a bit. And I was able to do my shakeout run and do some of the things during the day. And then not, nah, I got a better night’s sleep and I was really ready for Saturday, but had I did what I normally do and which is getting maybe like one day before. I would even been in really bad shape for the marathon.

So super happy that I was able to get in at least a couple of days before. But just to the time zone. And then I got ready for that Saturday for the international marathon.

So the next one is. Pack smart and really pack what you need, pack the essentials of what you need. So for me, I, you know, I carry my. Oh, the clothes I think on the, I carried my hydration, my nutrition. And I’ve kind of really learned this in the past for my travel, uh, depending on the country that I go to, the things that I need are always available in that country or [00:17:00] easily accessible.

So there’s certain things I just tend to bring with me. And yeah. So just really think about what it is that you’ll need for your time overseas. And then thinking about what you’ll need for the race and make sure you pack those things, you know, appropriately.

Next is planned for your hydration and nutrition.

So it’s a little bit similar to the last tip. But very specific to number one. You know, hydration during your trip itself and number two for the race. So for the trip itself, you know, especially for long overseas flights, It’s easy for someone to become dehydrated. So very, very important for you to you. You know, consider that and hydrate appropriately, not only during your travel, but have the appropriate hydration during the actual race. So, so that’s what I did.

And I’ll talk a little bit about what I did for, for travel in the race and what I do. So what I do for just general hydration is that I [00:18:00] use our bond for electrolytes as well as for immunity. Um, so that’s kinda my every day hydration. Then for the race, I do a combination of things. One is a use, um, LMN T, which is sodium based electrolytes.

So I do that. I don’t drink it when. When I’m running, I’ll drink it like maybe before, or maybe after, or maybe both. And then during the race, I will drink tailwinds nutrition. And tailwind. Is sugar base electrolytes. And the cool thing about tailwind is it has calories. And there’s a version of it with caffeine and the version without.

So what I’ll do is I’ll just kind of mix both. So I don’t have too, too much caffeine in each of the bottles of water that I bring with me, but I get that. You know, enough caffeine and enough calories to, to get me through the race. So that works out really, really well. So again, I use. Arbonne for my normal daily hydration. Uh, I use elements. [00:19:00] T the sodium base electrolytes.

And I do that kind of leading up to the race and then after the race, and then during the race, I use tailwind nutrition, which is sugar based. Um, and it has the calories and the caffeine that I need. So that’s what I use, you know, obviously you use what you know works for you, but those are the things that’s really kind of worked for me.

Next is really kind of know, you know, the language and the culture based on where you’re going.

So, you know, again, this was an opportunity to go to a country that, you know, I’m very familiar with. And I love being there and I know a little bit of language, but you know, my French is terrible, so I know a little bit. Uh, Spanish. The kind of helped me a little bit. Plus I spent some time in the country so I can understand a little bit, but for me to be able to fully understand or fully speak, that’s just not the case.

So in this case, having friends. Um, local friends or contacts there that can really help me when I needed. Especially, it [00:20:00] relates to language and communication is super, super, super helpful.

Next is, you know, you want to set realistic expectations. So for me, I had really just broad goals for this marathon.

You know, number one, I wanted it to be memorable. So again, kind of doing this trip overseas, um, and this beautiful essentially wine country absolutely kind of check that box. And I’ll talk a little bit about, you know, my experience in the race there, but. I also wanted to enjoy the race. And not all.

And also not feel like I was dying the entire time. So, you know, I kind of set my goals accordingly and I’m thinking, okay, you know, if I do, you know, four and a half hours, that’s really a decent time for me based on what I’ve done for my half marathon time. I think that’s a decent pace for that. Um, and also given how I’ve been doing my training. Uh, I came in at five hours, which was totally, totally fine [00:21:00] because I checked the boxes on my goals.

I absolutely enjoyed the race. I absolutely thought it was memorable. It was something I’ll always remember. Uh, and really, I appreciate the fact that I got to do it. And, and yeah, and I didn’t feel like I was dying the entire time now. I don’t don’t get me wrong. It was definitely a hard race. Like if you’ve never run a marathon before, if you run a race for the first time, it’s definitely hard.

And I feel like even the last three miles felt like 20. So. So it was difficult, but it wasn’t, it didn’t feel like a knock and make this like, I, you know, I just kind of pushed through and I ran the race at my pace and I felt really good about my performance and, and my time. So, whatever your goals are, whatever your expectations are, just set realistic expectations, because remember you’re, if you’re thinking about an international marathon, you’re running into place that you. You know, you may or may not have been before you may or may not be familiar with.

And if you’re trying to compare it to something else, You know, that might not [00:22:00] be realistic. So just really kind of think about like what’s important to you and kind of set your expectations appropriately. And then last but not least is really kind of celebrate the local customs. So as I mentioned, this is re this race is kind of centered around this. Festival or the celebration of the new Beaujolais wine that the re release, um, for the season, for the year. And it’s just such a beautiful, I would say events.

So the runners, I think I read like 60% of the runners. Dress up in costumes and then they have wine and food on the course and the castles and you’re running through vineyards and it’s just all super beautiful and just wonderful. And just take the time to really enjoy and celebrate that. I know no matter where it is that you’re running and no matter what it is then of course, you know, if wine or alcohol or whatever the case is, is not your thing.

That’s fine. You know, then pick a country or pick a race that has some sort of [00:23:00] theme and is aligned with something that. You enjoy and that you like and aligns with with you. So that’s the last thing is really just kind of not only go to run the race, but really celebrate and enjoy and partake of all that it has to offer. So those are the 10 tips that I wanted to share with you and the things I think I did well and things I did not do well that I could definitely do better the next time, but all in all, just running through the vineyards, running up and down the Hills, running in the car, in and out of the castles.

And then to the finish line in the city with everybody, cheering was just an amazing experience. And, you know, for me running my first and maybe even my only marathon. You know, this is something that I’ll be talking about for a really long time and just again, super happy and grateful, and I’m privileged to be able to do something like this.

So, you know, I shared a lot of great pictures on social media. And, you know, if you want to take a look, go to inspired or on podcast on Instagram, you could see some of the pictures there. [00:24:00] And if you’re thinking about running an international marathon, you know, just hit me up on, on Instagram and feel free to ask me questions or give me feedback on this, uh, on this episode of. You know, this kind of resonates with you.

I’d love to hear from you. Uh, as well. So, you know, again, just overall great experience. I’m happy to share this with you. Hopefully I’m inspiring you to not only run, but run your first international marathon. So with that, I want to say thank you for listening and have a great day.

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