Advice on how to stay healthy during your Grandma’s Marathon race

Running a marathon can be very hard on your body.

But if you follow your training routine, and a few other steps, you can have a healthy race.

One thing to consider is to keep yourself from starting off too fast, due to adrenaline.

Christina Nistler, an athletic trainer for Essentia Health, told us, “It is so, so easy to go out too hard at the start because you’re so fit from all your training. You’re well rested from the taper. And then there’s just all this crazy excitement at the beginning. So even even somewhat experienced marathoners can start to fast and really feel it later. So trust your race plan. Don’t go too hard.”

A few things to remember:

1. Get enough rest.
2. Dress in layers.
3. Follow your training plan.
4. Don’t overhydrate.
5. Carry medications you might need with you.
6. Walk when you need to.

Still, medical professionals are there along the way to help if you need. There are five tents set up along the course, plus the medical tent at the finish line. And ski patrol people on bikes who are certified EMTs will be patrolling the route. There are also ambulance stationed along the route, and first aid stations about every other mile.

And at the finish line, don’t just stop. “We have the chute designed so that you keep on moving through, and that’s for a purpose. So keep walking until you feel like your heart rate’s come back down and you’re feeling more recovered,” explained Dr. Kaily Mclellan, the medical director for Grandma’s.

Air quality was a concern earlier this week. But it’s getting better each day.

Still, it’s something that might need to be addressed when it comes to the Event Alert System (EAS), which uses flags to demonstrate the different course conditions.

Dr. David Supik, from the University of Minnesota Medial School, worked the Grandma’s medical tent last year. And he said the Air Quality Index may be something they have to consider going forward.