As I write this it is within a week of the Berlin Marathon and it appears that we have a green light. This is actually happening!
I’m sure you know that traveling internationally has become complicated and volatile. There are many parameters and only a few constants.
Destinations each concoct their own blends of science and politics to create “Red”, “Amber”, and “Green” lists of countries describing the risks presented by arriving travelers. Throw in vaccination status, passport issuer, and itinerary for the past 10 days and out pops a matrix of travel restrictions.
Restrictions might include documentation of vaccination or COVID recovery status, COVID testing before arrival, COVID testing after arrival, quarantining, locator documents, on-line registrations and what have you. It can get confusing and all the more so because the situation is constantly changing.
I came across a great website (https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-restrictions/) that helps a traveler sort it all out. Enter your origin, destination, dates of travel, vaccination status, and passport country and you get a concise, up-to-date summary of what you need to bring on the trip.
Despite a summer’s worth of anxiety, getting into Germany will be easy. I just need to register on-line and flash my passport and CDC vaccination card. The UK will be different as there’s a lot more COVID testing involved. I have to get a negative test before entering, then another within two days of arrival, and then another one to get into the race. And I may need one more to get back to the US.
There’s more of this when you get to the races although they seem to be converging on some of the protocols.
Universally, masks are required indoors and on shuttle buses and encouraged in the start and finish areas though not during the race.
And borrowing from music festivals or maybe hospitals, they all appear to be adopting the practice of adorning runners with ID bracelets that signify the participant has passed COVID screening. These bracelets are attached at race packet pick-up, guarantee access to the Expo and start area, and are not to be removed until after the race.
Each race, though, has it’s own unique measures intended to reduce touchpoints.
Gear check, wherein a runner can hand a bag of personal items (aka “kitbag” when in London) to officials in the start area then collect it at the finish, has gotten creative.
For loop-like races where the finish is near the start (Berlin and Chicago) gear check is fairly traditional.
London has eliminated the practice this year. Rather, each racer must drop off their kitbag at the Expo before race day. To further sanitize the familiar finish line rituals, London race officials will load swag, finisher medal, and T-shirt in the kitbag for pick-up at the finish.
New York’s gear check is similar to London’s. In addition, in a bid to avoid over-crowding at the Expo, all runners must reserve a time slot for picking up their race packet and dropping off their gear that they’ll collect at the finish.
In Boston, runners can drop gear off near the finish line before heading to the buses that shuttle them to the start in Hopkinton.
None of these races (London, Boston, and New York) will transport items, such as warmer clothes, from the start to the finish. Runners either freeze at the start in their race attire or bring something warm to wear that they discard for charity before they start running. This is new for London but routine for Boston and New York.
Another runner I met, Jeremiah Mushen, suggested bringing a sleeping bag to the Staten Island start for the New York City Marathon because the wait is very cold and several hours long. Good idea.
London is also advocating that runners wear a commemorative bottle belt to carry water with them while running thereby reducing touch points at the aid stations. A runner can simply swap in a new bottle of mineral water at each stop.
London has also proclaimed a “one-supporter” policy where each runner selects only a single person to cheer for them live along the course so that the streets don’t get over-crowded. As I am traveling to London alone I may try to raffle off my spectator allocation to some other deserving runner.
Boston has explicitly requested that all runners refrain from kissing strangers at the halfway mark. Um . . . okay.
It’s all very exciting. Not only is it validation time for my training strategy, it’s also showtime for my logistics planning.
My personal highlight will be the doubleheader of the Chicago Marathon on October 10 followed by the Boston Marathon the next day.
By rule, all runners must pick up their packets at the Expo held prior to the race. Except for London, only in-person pick up is allowed; a substitute cannot do it. Specifically, I can’t hang out in Chicago to prepare for that race while someone in Boston gets my Boston packet for me. And I won’t be able to get back to Boston in time to hit the Boston Expo after running Chicago.
To be clear, I must have my Boston race packet in hand before I head to Chicago.
Here’s the plan:
- Fly to Boston on October 5 after the London Marathon and meet up with Lynn flying in from Seattle.
- Prepare for Boston and Chicago while in Boston. Stay in an AirBnB that Lynn found for us. Great spot, close to Copley Square and the finish line.
- Pick up my Boston race packet at the Boston Expo on Friday October 8. Prepare my post-Chicago carbo load meal(s).
- Fly to Chicago solo (Lynn remains in Boston) on Saturday October 9 and pick up my Chicago race packet at the Chicago Expo. Stay one night in the Hilton Chicago.
- Run the Chicago Marathon on Sunday October 10. Find a way to wash up afterwards.
- Fly back to Boston Sunday afternoon arriving in the evening. Carbo load, hydrate, and nap on the plane. Stay in the same Boston AirBnB with Lynn as before.
- Take the shuttle to the start line early Monday morning October 11 and run the Boston Marathon.
What could possibly go wrong?
Finish Time Goals
Readers of this blog will know that I am not trying to set PR’s in any of these marathons because to do so would risk the goal of running in all of them. Slow and steady finishes the race.
But that’s not to say that I don’t have ambitions. I have a male ego after all.
Practically speaking, I have to aim low for the Chicago-Boston doubleheader. These will be run at a pace that keeps my heart rate below 150 bpm which for me works out to about 9:30 per mile pace.
It’s tempting to go a bit faster in Berlin because it’s the first one, I will not have beaten myself up yet, adrenaline will be pumping, and the course is flat and fast. Similarly, I’d want to go for it in New York because it’s the last one; no reason to hold back. I’ll have to take London on the slow side so as not to jeopardize Chicago-Boston.
So my finish time goals are to do Berlin and New York in under 4 hours. For London, Chicago, and Boston I am shooting for 4 hours 10 minutes which is nearly 30 minutes slower than my current PR (3:42:36).
These are goals, not predictions. If I were placing bets I would expect the reality to be a bit slower.
As you may already know I am a charity runner in the London, Boston, and New York marathons this year.
There’s still time to contribute to my cause (assuming that you have not already done so).
If you share the passion that the Michael J Fox Foundation and I have for finding a Parkinson’s cure please consider contributing to any of the WMM I am running in as a member of Team Fox (links below). All donations are meaningful and greatly appreciated.
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/boston-marathon-2021/joesgottarun
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/londonmarathon2021/joesgottarun
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/tcs-nyc-marathon-2021/joesgottarun
