Does the food available after a race come into play when you are choosing a race or are you happy with a boring snack like a granola bar or pretzels after a race? For me, it depends on exactly how far I’ve run. For shorter races, I don’t need anything at all, but sometimes something salty is good on a hot day. Even for a half marathon, I often don’t feel any urge to eat at the finish line. But sometimes the offerings are so good, I eat even if I don’t “want to”.
Wondering what races have make me want to run them again just for the food? Here are my favorites.
Mainly Marathon races – the “aid station” is a smorgasbord of all the good things: pretzels, m&ms, gummy bears, hard boiled eggs, pb&j, pickles… And then there’s the real food. Sometimes it’s paninis. Sometimes it’s soup. Sometimes it’s pancakes. Always it’s good. And you wonder how I can gain weight running 7 half marathons in 7 days!
Rehoboth Seashore Half Marathon – Confession: I’ve registered for this race this year even though I’m not sure my foot will allow me to run it. The food (and 3 beer tickets) are just that good. It’s a buffet with all the good things you could possibly want post race. And you can go back for more. I’m sensing a calorie positive theme here.
Marine Corps Marathon – In general, their post race food is meh. But they always have watermelon to give out afterwards. Ice cold watermelon. It’s provided by the Watermelon Board and it’s free to spectators and runners. I may have contemplated wrestling a box out of a spectator’s hand last year after the super hot race. Luckily for them, I was quickly handed some of my own. Seriously the best thing ever after a race.
ZOOMA races – In Cape Cod, we provided apple cider donuts (I will not admit how many I ate), clam chowder, and a lovely roll. In Florida, Salt Life Food Shack provided us with salads or wraps. Even though I didn’t run, I got to partake and the food was AH-MAZ-ING.
I know I’ve had good food at other races, but apparently none of them actually stood out enough for me to remember LOL.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever gotten after a race?
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An apple cider donut would be sooo good! I cant think of any memorable race food, but clam chowder would definitely count as that!
I don’t have any standout post-race food memories, but I am all about a good beer after a race. Some of the Chicago races serve Lagunitas at the finish line and the Chicago Marathon has Goose Island. When I ran Mercedes in Birmingham, they had several varieties of Good People, a local craft beer company. And now that I think of it, they had BBQ at the finish. That was good!
The lobster roll & chowder after Smuttynose was AMAZING. And the food swag at Ocean City was really great, too.
The food served after a race is definitely a factor in how I remember the race, but it’s not the deciding factor in whether I will do the race or not. The food at most trail races will put road race food to shame. One trail race I ran featured an aid station where they were making fresh, hot French fries out in the middle of the woods. A volunteer transported a gas burner and a big pot of oil to make them for the runners – nice! On the other hand, one of my favorite road races – Ukrop’s in Richmond – hardly gives runners any post-race food at all.
Watermelon sounds perfect post-race! I’ve only had that happen once but it was much appreciated. I’m always a big fan of bagels after a longer distance race.
I’m not much of a post-race eater, either. Even after my marathon a week ago, all I wanted was an ice-cold Pepsi LOL.
I like the post race watermelon and oranges. I usually do not really eat eat until about an hour afterwards
I’ve never ran a race where there was enough food to make a meal at the end of it, but then again I’m not usually one for wanting to eat after running. Although, I was thankful for the pizza after my triathlon! -M
One of the reasons I love ultras is because of the amount of real food I et to eat during a race!
The one race I remember having so much great food was the IMT Des Moines Half Marathon. I was so impressed with it. Most races rarely have any food or good food after a race.
I don’t really remember any really good post-race food. Maybe because nothing is super appealing to me after running long distances! I am usually ok with something simple that won’t upset my stomach.