After travelling 1,500 miles, staying in unfamiliar hotel rooms, getting out on the track with little-to-no warmup and running in conditions 30 degrees colder than you're used to, food is the last thing you want to worry about.
And for the hundreds of athletes who will be making the trip from Jamaica for this weekend's Penn Relays, that's where Team Jamaica Bickle comes in.
The organization, founded 12 years ago, has a familiar ring to many Relays spectators, who pass by the Team Jamaica Bickle hospitality tent.
But few know that the function of Irwine Clare's brainchild is to provide comfortable Jamaican food for the athletes who are running in an uncomfortable setting.
"What we want to do was not to break their diet because it was affecting them," Clare said. "Jamaican food is the best food in the world."
Just don't eat beef patties, jerk chicken and curried goat too close to race time. These victuals, or "bickle" as the Jamaicans call it, are quite the hearty staples.
Team Jamaica Bickle functions as a larger-scale version of a booster club. Bickle gets some funding through sponsorships from Jamaican companies, but has to go about some of its fundraising the old-fashioned way.
"They're doing what lots of American high schools do: bake sales and raffles and things like that," Relays director Dave Johnson said. "I think that's where most of their funding really comes from. . They're always scrapping for funds."
The teams always find a way to get to Philadelphia, though, and they add what Johnson estimates to be roughly 5,000-10,000 fans to the Relays crowd - not to mention their enthusiasm for the races.
And the presence of Jamaican high schools at the Penn Relays goes back much farther than the advent of Team Jamaica Bickle.
They first arrived at the Relays when, in 1964, Lennox Miller led the Kingston College High School team to victory in the 4x100-meter relay in the first appearance of any high school from the island. Miller would go on to win the 100m silver medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
In the next three days, 28 Jamaican high schools will take to the track. And whether they're eating beef patties or burgers and pizza, that doesn't change the fact that this year, like every other year, they will be the teams to beat.
The team for fans to watch is St. Jago's 4x100m team - but look carefully, or you might miss them.
The foursome ran a 39.80 at the Boys Championships in Jamaica, becoming the first school on the island to run under 40 seconds.
By comparison, only two schools - LSU and Tennessee - ran times faster than 39.80 in the college event at last year's Relays.
Anchoring that St. Jago team will be Yohan Blake, whose 10.11 mark in the 100m is better than the American high school record. He is also considered the possible heir to Asafa Powell's place in Jamaican sprinting.
On the women's side, the team to watch, as has become a pattern, is Holmwood Tech.
The Manchester, Jamaica, school swept the 4x100, the 4x400 and the 4x800 at the Penn Relays last year.
The 4x400 team, which returns three runners from last year's Franklin Field quartet, has already posted a 3:34.29 mark this season - faster than the American record.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.