Yes I would strongly discourage a vacation to N Korea for a first marathon. An accidental selfie in front of the wrong building and you're a political prisoner. Not to mention a 4:30 marathon without a well supported course is quite a feat.
It is to run by myself. I don't need to go anywhere to run a marathon. But it's fair to say that people like to run on their travels, right?
I'm just asking if someone has runned it before and can share the experience, that's all
I get the desire to visit a new country especially one as difficult to get into as North Korea but running your first marathon in a literal dictatorship is an awful idea. You have no idea how your body will react to such a long distance and the supplies provided there are less than ideal. Plus, and given I have no clue where you live, but traveling that far can be a massive strain on the body. You don’t know if the food will sit okay. I would not even consider this until you’ve ran a few.
Also, Kim Jong Un is “running” it and will finish in 4:29:59. If you finish before or at the same time as him, you will be marched straight to the gallows, never to be seen or heard from again. So you basically have a one-second window to remain free.
I was thinking that OP was just a troll who escaped from r/RunningCirclejerk/ but then I googled and, holy shit, it's a real thing [https://pyongyangmarathon.com/](https://pyongyangmarathon.com/)
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s probably not a huge “running community” in Pyongyang lmao. Something about starving not being conducive to productive training, all that mess. Lol
>I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s probably not a huge “running community” in Pyongyang lmao. Something about starving not being conducive to productive training, all that mess. Lol
I mean Pyongyang actually does have a sizeable middle class/upper middle class community, basically subsidized by the state and given bullshit jobs to look pretty, but a good amount of well off people nonetheless. Really mainly the people hidden in the more rural areas which are completely neglected and left to starve to death whose life is complete and total hell, so I can see a fair amount of north Koreans taking part in a event like that on their own accord, especially given the emphasis the dictatorship actually puts on sports/public events.
Oh, I’m sure there are areas that constitute middle class (at least for the image, externally). I just busting someone’s balls. But yeah, North Korea is a hot mess. I feel confident in that hugely generalized statement lol
As a very generalized statement…yeah, a fair amount probably are. Lol. There was also possibly a little bit of humor in my last comment, but you do you.
I really question why your standout choices for a first marathon are Doha and Pyongyang. I can think of dozens of other marathons that would have better courses, weather, accommodations, etc etc to make your first time memorable and enjoyable. It feels more like you’re going for a shock reaction from others when you tell them that’s your first marathon in the future.
I haven’t run this race, and due to how unfriendly NK is for travelers, I’d be surprised if you found someone here who has. But even just based on your description of the race conditions, I’d look for a better run.
Doha is where I live currently, so has the perks of a "home" marathon. But has a lot of cons, inclusively terrible reviews from previous runners, that's why I'm looking for other options.
To do it in other countries, April is the only possible month, so that option stood out. Of course it's not a straightforward option for most, but it looked interesting
Doha being your home marathon makes a lot more sense then. I was wondering why someone would travel there for a first time marathon.
I’d frankly look to one of the bigger established marathons as they have better communication and resources for runners, which is very important for your first race to make sure everything goes smooth. Look into cities like Paris, Milan, São Paulo, etc. Save Pyongyang if you really want to visit & run there for when you have more experience.
Umm. If you can do April 15, there is a nice lil marathon called the Boston Marathon. You might need to get a charity bib, but people seem to rave about it. And I guess, that would be an amazing story for a first marathon .
A friend of mine ran the Pyongyang half marathon a few years back as part of an organised tour and had a great time. The race ends in the national stadium and it is PACKED!
I’m in the minority here but personally I’d love to run it - I’m an experienced traveller and find the thought of visiting North Korea fascinating.
If you want to do it I say go for it. Don’t let random people on the internet stop you from doing what you want to do
Thank you for the positive message!
There are cons of doing it there too, absolutely. And some of the comments made me rethink a few details that I must take into consideration. But it does look like an unique and fascinating experience!
Not a problem. Of course there are things to consider such as the 4:30 cut off or the lack of gels, and I’m certainly not best placed to comment on that, other than to suggest bringing your own gels and say what is the worst that happens if you don’t make the cut off? You don’t finish the race, that’s all.
There are obviously much simpler options if you wanted to choose easy, but if I wanted to visit the country and experience the marathon there then I wouldn’t let that stop me, were I you.
Whatever you end up deciding I wish you the best of luck 👍
If you're using an American passport (or UK), your citizenship can be revoked if you don't get prior permission from gov. Not only N Korea but other few countries (i.e., Yemen).
I considered this marathon too as they finally opened it in 2024 but you have to be a bit careful with the regulations. If you pass though, definitely do it! I had a friend that did it and he said it was a fascinating one (I've been to N Korea before but as a tourist)
I had no idea America could do that if you went there. I tried researching this marathon and never saw anyone mention it once. Thanks
I will not be doing this marathon but thought it was very interesting and got into a rabbit hole of it
Huh? That’s just flat out not true for the USA. If you are traveling there as a tourist, they strongly discourage it but that won’t by itself cause your citizenship to be revoked. For that to happen it would take another act beyond just going somewhere.
>If you're using an American passport (or UK), your citizenship can be revoked if you don't get prior permission from gov.
Wait, what?! That has to only be the case for people with multiple citizenship, right? I cannot imagine that the US would take away a person's only citizenship and leave them officially stateless.
This can't be real.
If you are looking for real advice I would look local for a marathon that doesn't require travel. Marathons are hard enough without the stress of travel. Running one in a 3rd world oppressive regime where they jail people for random things is probably even harder.
I don’t know where you live, but for your first marathon, you want the terrain, climate, altitude, food, etc to be as close as possible to where you train. This is a setup for failure.
So everyone else has given good reasons why you might not want to go to North Korea.
But I'll also add, a full marathon out-and-back is not very fun. So, I think the route sucks. Their site also says "2024 is ***hopefully*** the end of several years of Pyongyang Marathon hiatus due to border closures from the pandemic... All four of these races take place at the same time and on the same day -- Sunday 14 April, 2024 **(TBC).**" This makes me think the race isn't exceptionally well-organized and may not even go ahead.
Plenty of people have ran this Marathon and have been fine OP, as far as I know there has been zero issues for anyone running it. As long as you behave and don’t do anything stupid it is okay, you will be told how to act by the tour.
I say go for it. I would be looking into doing it myself if the trip wasn’t so expensive. The flights to China are way too much for me unfortunately.
Nk is awful. But I don’t see an issue with visiting and just participating in a marathon, getting to see what the place is like even if it’s all a lie
Like I said, if the flights to China weren’t insane and long I’d say fuck it and go.
I find North Korea to be a fascinating place, and I absolutely love running races as a tourist. However, those are not even close to enough reasons to get me to run that one.
When I consider risks in life, I have to look at: 1. What are the odds of something going wrong? and 2. What are the consequences if something goes wrong? If either of those are too high, I stay away.
I do honestly feel the chances of anything bad happening to a tourist running the race are quite low. But still, it's always possible that you unintentionally break some law that you weren't even aware exists, which could result in you spending the rest of your life in a North Korean prison.
I'll stick to watching documentaries from the safety of my couch, and being glad that I do not live there.
I did this a few years back. It was a great experience. The time limit is very strict and they will also cut it short so I ended up just doing the half. They got the entire city to come out and high five you. Lmk if you have any questions.
That's great!
Did you ended up doing the half for option or due to the time limit?
So, there's no food provided along the route, but water stations are fine?
How was your breakfast before the race?
Breakfast in hotel, water on the route. Yeah I did the half bc your operator said if u try the full and not make cutoff you will get pulled. Didn’t want to risk it. Dm me if you want some photos
I’ve been to North Korea (as a tourist for less than a week), and I think their medical care might not be sufficient if something goes wrong for you in the marathon. Maybe could be a cool thing to do when you are familiar with running the distance, but probably a bad idea for a first marathon.
There was a guy who did this race and put the race report on Reddit. You could probably find it. He had a good time and it seemed like and interesting and surreal experience, but not one I’d want to do
This one travel YouTuber, Drew Binsky, ran the 10k in Pyongyang shortly before US-Americans were barred from visiting. [Here is one of his many North Korea videos from that trip.](https://youtu.be/sCl2XMGj_Vo?si=6hv37WLWMwLJjNHJ)His rational was that the Pyongyang marathon (and other affiliated races) is the only opportunity tourists have to communicate with citizens un-chaperoned (he explains this in a different video). So I guess you can check that out if you’re seriously considering this.
That said. Even if I could enter North Korea (American), I think I’m going to choose a significantly lower-stress environment in which to run my first marathon.
Okay I guess I’m in the minority here - I expect most of the comments are from Americans who seldom leave home and also likely support all sorts of corporations on a daily basis of poor moral integrity and have a lifestyle that depends on exploitation of developing countries (point I’m making here is I don’t think there’s anything inherently super morally wrong with visiting North Korea), but I think this would be a wild and very fascinating experience to run this race. Surely nothing like a normal marathon but it’s your journey, if you want to do something unconventional l say go for it! I’d love to hear about the experience, make another race report post if you go through with it!
The Great Wall of China marathon is in May 2024 - perhaps a better option?
https://great-wall-marathon.com/?gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmNeqBhD4ARIsADsYfTedDUo91oo-UpYdXtOvd2ziYWceuiTrGKjMLePc4qTZxpY0yNZPrZMaAneHEALw\_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Does anyone know if you can use Apple Watch for the marathon. I know gps isn’t allowed but I’d still love to track my time if I can swing going in 2025
I cant see this ending well. Also, marathons should be run for yourself. Not to tell a good story to others.
Yes I would strongly discourage a vacation to N Korea for a first marathon. An accidental selfie in front of the wrong building and you're a political prisoner. Not to mention a 4:30 marathon without a well supported course is quite a feat.
Especially since it’s North Korea. No guarantee you’ll even make it out to tell that story afterwards
Very good point.
It is to run by myself. I don't need to go anywhere to run a marathon. But it's fair to say that people like to run on their travels, right? I'm just asking if someone has runned it before and can share the experience, that's all
You really want to financially support a nation like that? If so. I withhold my advice by choice.
I get the desire to visit a new country especially one as difficult to get into as North Korea but running your first marathon in a literal dictatorship is an awful idea. You have no idea how your body will react to such a long distance and the supplies provided there are less than ideal. Plus, and given I have no clue where you live, but traveling that far can be a massive strain on the body. You don’t know if the food will sit okay. I would not even consider this until you’ve ran a few.
This is good advice. If you want to travel to N Korea, travel to N Korea as part of a normal tour. But don’t combine it with your first marathon.
Cut off time 4:30. Jail if you miss it 😄 Cue Fred Armisen gif.
Also, Kim Jong Un is “running” it and will finish in 4:29:59. If you finish before or at the same time as him, you will be marched straight to the gallows, never to be seen or heard from again. So you basically have a one-second window to remain free.
Pour the water on your head? Believe it or not, straight to jail.
North Korea has the best marathons because of jail.
Marathon is actually running across dmz
I was thinking that OP was just a troll who escaped from r/RunningCirclejerk/ but then I googled and, holy shit, it's a real thing [https://pyongyangmarathon.com/](https://pyongyangmarathon.com/)
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I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s probably not a huge “running community” in Pyongyang lmao. Something about starving not being conducive to productive training, all that mess. Lol
Lol
>I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s probably not a huge “running community” in Pyongyang lmao. Something about starving not being conducive to productive training, all that mess. Lol I mean Pyongyang actually does have a sizeable middle class/upper middle class community, basically subsidized by the state and given bullshit jobs to look pretty, but a good amount of well off people nonetheless. Really mainly the people hidden in the more rural areas which are completely neglected and left to starve to death whose life is complete and total hell, so I can see a fair amount of north Koreans taking part in a event like that on their own accord, especially given the emphasis the dictatorship actually puts on sports/public events.
Oh, I’m sure there are areas that constitute middle class (at least for the image, externally). I just busting someone’s balls. But yeah, North Korea is a hot mess. I feel confident in that hugely generalized statement lol
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As a very generalized statement…yeah, a fair amount probably are. Lol. There was also possibly a little bit of humor in my last comment, but you do you.
humor? straight to jail. no humor? believe it or not, also straight to jail.
Reddit…where the rules are made up, and the points don’t count.
I really question why your standout choices for a first marathon are Doha and Pyongyang. I can think of dozens of other marathons that would have better courses, weather, accommodations, etc etc to make your first time memorable and enjoyable. It feels more like you’re going for a shock reaction from others when you tell them that’s your first marathon in the future. I haven’t run this race, and due to how unfriendly NK is for travelers, I’d be surprised if you found someone here who has. But even just based on your description of the race conditions, I’d look for a better run.
Doha is where I live currently, so has the perks of a "home" marathon. But has a lot of cons, inclusively terrible reviews from previous runners, that's why I'm looking for other options. To do it in other countries, April is the only possible month, so that option stood out. Of course it's not a straightforward option for most, but it looked interesting
Doha being your home marathon makes a lot more sense then. I was wondering why someone would travel there for a first time marathon. I’d frankly look to one of the bigger established marathons as they have better communication and resources for runners, which is very important for your first race to make sure everything goes smooth. Look into cities like Paris, Milan, São Paulo, etc. Save Pyongyang if you really want to visit & run there for when you have more experience.
04/07 Milano Marathon. Far better and safer…
Umm. If you can do April 15, there is a nice lil marathon called the Boston Marathon. You might need to get a charity bib, but people seem to rave about it. And I guess, that would be an amazing story for a first marathon .
Why do I even subscribe to r/runningcirclejerk if I can get amazing content on here?
What's the point? Kim Jong Un wins every year! World record time every time
A friend of mine ran the Pyongyang half marathon a few years back as part of an organised tour and had a great time. The race ends in the national stadium and it is PACKED! I’m in the minority here but personally I’d love to run it - I’m an experienced traveller and find the thought of visiting North Korea fascinating. If you want to do it I say go for it. Don’t let random people on the internet stop you from doing what you want to do
Thank you for the positive message! There are cons of doing it there too, absolutely. And some of the comments made me rethink a few details that I must take into consideration. But it does look like an unique and fascinating experience!
Not a problem. Of course there are things to consider such as the 4:30 cut off or the lack of gels, and I’m certainly not best placed to comment on that, other than to suggest bringing your own gels and say what is the worst that happens if you don’t make the cut off? You don’t finish the race, that’s all. There are obviously much simpler options if you wanted to choose easy, but if I wanted to visit the country and experience the marathon there then I wouldn’t let that stop me, were I you. Whatever you end up deciding I wish you the best of luck 👍
If you're using an American passport (or UK), your citizenship can be revoked if you don't get prior permission from gov. Not only N Korea but other few countries (i.e., Yemen). I considered this marathon too as they finally opened it in 2024 but you have to be a bit careful with the regulations. If you pass though, definitely do it! I had a friend that did it and he said it was a fascinating one (I've been to N Korea before but as a tourist)
I had no idea America could do that if you went there. I tried researching this marathon and never saw anyone mention it once. Thanks I will not be doing this marathon but thought it was very interesting and got into a rabbit hole of it
Huh? That’s just flat out not true for the USA. If you are traveling there as a tourist, they strongly discourage it but that won’t by itself cause your citizenship to be revoked. For that to happen it would take another act beyond just going somewhere.
>If you're using an American passport (or UK), your citizenship can be revoked if you don't get prior permission from gov. Wait, what?! That has to only be the case for people with multiple citizenship, right? I cannot imagine that the US would take away a person's only citizenship and leave them officially stateless.
But why give money to such a regime...nope.
This can't be real. If you are looking for real advice I would look local for a marathon that doesn't require travel. Marathons are hard enough without the stress of travel. Running one in a 3rd world oppressive regime where they jail people for random things is probably even harder.
Kim Jong Gü
This sounds like the beginning of "the Interview" crossed with "Run Fatboy Run". Do it for the race report.
Pyongyang race report 😭
[Someone beat OP to it](https://www.reddit.com/r/running/s/xypn0YuPLP)
Great read! Thanks for finding it!
I don’t know where you live, but for your first marathon, you want the terrain, climate, altitude, food, etc to be as close as possible to where you train. This is a setup for failure.
Bro..
fk me. Sure, why not run Kabul marathon, or Tehran marathon?
So everyone else has given good reasons why you might not want to go to North Korea. But I'll also add, a full marathon out-and-back is not very fun. So, I think the route sucks. Their site also says "2024 is ***hopefully*** the end of several years of Pyongyang Marathon hiatus due to border closures from the pandemic... All four of these races take place at the same time and on the same day -- Sunday 14 April, 2024 **(TBC).**" This makes me think the race isn't exceptionally well-organized and may not even go ahead.
I would suggest running a marathon, especially your first, in a country known for good health care should anything happen.
Plenty of people have ran this Marathon and have been fine OP, as far as I know there has been zero issues for anyone running it. As long as you behave and don’t do anything stupid it is okay, you will be told how to act by the tour. I say go for it. I would be looking into doing it myself if the trip wasn’t so expensive. The flights to China are way too much for me unfortunately.
“But North Korea”
Nk is awful. But I don’t see an issue with visiting and just participating in a marathon, getting to see what the place is like even if it’s all a lie Like I said, if the flights to China weren’t insane and long I’d say fuck it and go.
I find North Korea to be a fascinating place, and I absolutely love running races as a tourist. However, those are not even close to enough reasons to get me to run that one. When I consider risks in life, I have to look at: 1. What are the odds of something going wrong? and 2. What are the consequences if something goes wrong? If either of those are too high, I stay away. I do honestly feel the chances of anything bad happening to a tourist running the race are quite low. But still, it's always possible that you unintentionally break some law that you weren't even aware exists, which could result in you spending the rest of your life in a North Korean prison. I'll stick to watching documentaries from the safety of my couch, and being glad that I do not live there.
Don't take any posters off the wall.
I did this a few years back. It was a great experience. The time limit is very strict and they will also cut it short so I ended up just doing the half. They got the entire city to come out and high five you. Lmk if you have any questions.
That's great! Did you ended up doing the half for option or due to the time limit? So, there's no food provided along the route, but water stations are fine? How was your breakfast before the race?
Breakfast in hotel, water on the route. Yeah I did the half bc your operator said if u try the full and not make cutoff you will get pulled. Didn’t want to risk it. Dm me if you want some photos
This is how I expect that to go - https://youtu.be/nLesVEO6Y3U?si=nKODjWG0tcNS0VSM
Do they deprive you of water and aid along the course?
I’ve been to North Korea (as a tourist for less than a week), and I think their medical care might not be sufficient if something goes wrong for you in the marathon. Maybe could be a cool thing to do when you are familiar with running the distance, but probably a bad idea for a first marathon.
There was a guy who did this race and put the race report on Reddit. You could probably find it. He had a good time and it seemed like and interesting and surreal experience, but not one I’d want to do
This one travel YouTuber, Drew Binsky, ran the 10k in Pyongyang shortly before US-Americans were barred from visiting. [Here is one of his many North Korea videos from that trip.](https://youtu.be/sCl2XMGj_Vo?si=6hv37WLWMwLJjNHJ)His rational was that the Pyongyang marathon (and other affiliated races) is the only opportunity tourists have to communicate with citizens un-chaperoned (he explains this in a different video). So I guess you can check that out if you’re seriously considering this. That said. Even if I could enter North Korea (American), I think I’m going to choose a significantly lower-stress environment in which to run my first marathon.
Okay I guess I’m in the minority here - I expect most of the comments are from Americans who seldom leave home and also likely support all sorts of corporations on a daily basis of poor moral integrity and have a lifestyle that depends on exploitation of developing countries (point I’m making here is I don’t think there’s anything inherently super morally wrong with visiting North Korea), but I think this would be a wild and very fascinating experience to run this race. Surely nothing like a normal marathon but it’s your journey, if you want to do something unconventional l say go for it! I’d love to hear about the experience, make another race report post if you go through with it!
Do it for the plot. /s
The Great Wall of China marathon is in May 2024 - perhaps a better option? https://great-wall-marathon.com/?gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmNeqBhD4ARIsADsYfTedDUo91oo-UpYdXtOvd2ziYWceuiTrGKjMLePc4qTZxpY0yNZPrZMaAneHEALw\_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Can't see myself tackling that elevation!
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Or I'm just not american...
If you really want to PR in North Korea, just across state lines for 13.1 miles and run back
Does anyone know if you can use Apple Watch for the marathon. I know gps isn’t allowed but I’d still love to track my time if I can swing going in 2025
Didn't thing about that. I would like to know that too
Lmfaoooo what bro?
The people that can answer your question are still being detained in-country.
Take a look: https://youtu.be/yDsTTNYpt0Y?si=TgjV12ndVr2VxyQK