You are so strong. Look down at your legs and flex your quads and think about how hard you’ve worked up to this point. With 3-4 months of training behind us, we are now only days away from the Vermont City Marathon.
I was feeling waves of nerves and excitement up to this point, especially as I began to taper. With only 2 weeks to go, all I wanted to do was ease my mind by running harder, faster, and stronger. But that was the opposite. It was quite luxurious I’ll admit to drop my mileage and be able to fit in all my runs during the day or spontaneously in the morning before work. However, the first week of tapering was mentally and physically challenging for me. My body wasn’t used to feeling satisfied by shorter runs, but then again that’s what it needed. The importance of tapering is that your legs can relax and feel lighter before a race by allowing them to store carbohydrates and glycogen, your race day fuel.
At the same time, I was starting to feel anxious and nervous that I wasn’t running as strong or at the speed that I’ve been training at this whole time. Why now??!
What helped me to get through this was talking to the resident experts at work or customers coming in who have a few marathons under their belt. The best advice that I received was knowing that I wasn’t alone in this and that they too went through similar things. My co-worker Chloe Egan, who has run 3 marathons (and is running the half this weekend) said it best in that there is something crazy that happens during the taper and that your body before race day will always be and feel different. But, once Sunday hits, your body knows that it’s the real deal, and it’s the best surprise.
As the last week of training began, I set out on the bike path for a short 4-mile run. I passed a spray-painted sign on the ground that said, “VCM 25”. My eyes teared up, my face lit up, and my smile was all of a sudden from ear-to-ear. In the midst of a wave of uncertainty, I pictured myself running with my best friend who I’ve been training with this whole time. I pictured us grabbing a hold of each other's arms out of excitement, processing that we’ve run 25 miles, and we have just one mile to go. My mind fast forwarded to that last mile, the last sprint, to crossing the finish line and throwing my hands in the air. Even just thinking about it feeling still gives me the chills!
An important thing that I keep on reminding myself about is that in the past 4 months of training, I’ve run a wild amount of miles. Long, hard weeks of running 20-40 miles. There were some major highs and milestones, and there were definitely some lows throughout it all. I look back to the first big milestone-- running 10 miles. It was a push for me, but I remember how strong and proud of myself I felt afterwards. Now, 10 miles is a baseline, and at times, a mid-week run. That’s a pretty incredible feeling.
Here we are now, only days away from the starting line. In my first post, I wrote about wanting to run the marathon because “I simply wasn’t sure if I can run 26.2 miles” and now I am beyond excited to give it all that I’ve got.
Thank you so much to everyone for following my blog posts over the past few months. I have absolutely loved having this space to process and reflect on the whole experience and to hopefully share helpful tips and reminders. After the marathon, I will be gearing up for the next adventure across the pond. This summer I will sadly be leaving the beautiful state of Vermont and heading over to Europe, to lead a bike tour for Apogee Adventures from Amsterdam to Venice, Italy. At the end of the tour I’m looking forward to living in Italy for a few months, traveling, farming, learning, and making art...stay tuned for lots of photos and stories!
To everyone out there, whether you’re running a leg of the relay, a half, or the whole thing-- Congratulations! During the race, take a second and look around you and see all of the people who came out to cheer you on! You have worked so hard for this day and have accomplished so much in the past few months, and deserve nothing but the best!
Wishing you all the best, and one last thing...
You are strong + you got this.
- Emily Hoffman,
Skirack Run Specialist
Click here to learn more about Emily.
Click here for more blog posts on training for the Vermont City Marathon
