Vermont City Marathon 2015

Life has been busy recently with the end of school, senior week activities, graduation and moving to Essex Junction, Vermont but yesterday I ran the Vermont City Marathon as a 2-person relay with Adam. I hadn't trained too much for this event, having taken time off after ski season ended in early March and from there only training casually, typically logging less than seven hours a week. I was excited to get back into running now that my ski career is done though and thought this would be a good way to start making that happen post-grad.

Adam ran the first leg so I got the hand-off in Oakledge Park, getting to run the second and more scenic half of the course. I ran up Battery Hill to some intense drumming, through neighborhoods filled with generous supporters and lots of orange slices, and finally finished along the waterway.

The first five miles flew by and I felt as if I wasn't working at all.

But by mile nine I knew I had gone out too hard (my first two miles covered in a mere 14 minutes) and definitely started to pay for my mistake. Usually a conservative starter, I fell victim to the excitement of the day and my own competitive nature as I tried to chase down the numerous competitors surrounding me. I managed to motivate myself through to mile 10 but hobbled though mile 11 and 12 as my quads and calves tightened with every footfall. And as someone who generally avoids running on roads whenever possible, the balls of my feet felt as if they were being beaten and flattened against the hard pavement, forcing me to choose the slower but softer bike trail's sandy edge. In all honesty, the best part of the last few miles was when a little kid handed me an blue ice pop. It was hands down the best thing I have ever tasted.

At the finish I met up with Adam and we loaded up on food from the runners tent. A friend had held onto our backpack full of gear, including our cell phones, and having not set a meeting time or location we had a brief fiasco as we attempted to find her, opening our eyes to how much we rely on our cell phones and always being able to be in constant contact.

Overall it was a really fun and extremely well-attended and well-staffed event for those who haven't been. I ended up running a 1:42:58 and Adam ran a 1:28. For those in the mixed gender relay category we ended up placing 14th out of 286 and for all the relay teams we were 42nd out of 873. Not too shabby for his first half and a bad race day for me.