Marathon runners - what do you eat at the hotel in the morning?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Usually I bring a couple of packets of instant oatmeal and make it with the coffee maker hot water. But instant oatmeal is so full of sugar 'n crap that I’d like to try something different. Right now I’m thinking about finding a Tim Horton’s the night before and getting a multigrain bagel for the morning - but what else could I eat to go along with that? What pre-made bars, energy drinks, fruits, etc. have you tried that were not harsh on your stomach and got you through until energy gel time during the race? Something that will survive being in my suitcase for 5 days or that I could buy there the night before.

I’m vegetarian and it’ll be the Victoria, BC Full Marathon. It’s in October so I have all summer to try different things to find what works the best. We’ll be staying at the Empress Hotel so if you know of any healthy cafes, restaurants, running-specific or health food stores in that area that would be great too.

2

My usual pre-race ( any distance) meal was a bagel(no butter, etc.) and a banana, two hours before.

I would also avoid anything high fiber.

Really, just experiment and find out what works for you.

3

Seriously. The Porta-Potties at any marathon will bear graphic testament to this.

Play around with it on your long runs and see how different foods affect you. My stomach never did well with Power Bars or various types of performance goo, nor with energy drinks.

Personally, I think people worry too much about it. After my first marathon, I just run - I’ll hit one or two water stops, but I don’t eat anything special (except to avoid high fiber) before and I eat nothing during.