You trained for sixteen weeks. Race morning still needs its own plan.

Only one of race morning's deadlines is printed on the website

The site says the gun goes off at 7:30. It doesn't say when to eat, when the last shuttle leaves, when bag drop closes, or how long the porta-potty line runs at 6:45 when several thousand people have the same idea at once. Those are the times that actually shape your morning. They're also the ones people end up doing arithmetic on at 4am on five hours of sleep.

Put in the gun time, get back the alarm

Set the deadline to your start time and Ready Time gives every step its own clock: breakfast, digest, dress, bib, travel, bag drop, bathroom, corral. Build the plan the week before while you're rested, and race morning becomes following notifications. The gap that commonly gets underestimated is bag drop to corral, which at a big race can be a long walk plus a second security line. Keep race day familiar: breakfast included.

How early should you wake up before a marathon?

Three to three and a half hours before the gun is the common answer, and breakfast is what drives it: most runners want the pre-race meal down two to three hours before the start, which is roughly what Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan assumes. A 7:30 marathon start puts the alarm around 4:15 or 4:30. A half needs roughly two and a half hours, and a 5K is comfortable at ninety minutes. Big-city races push it earlier again, because shuttles and security screening can eat an hour before you've done anything at all.