Saying "Yes" to Boston: Running the Boston Marathon with Team Stonyfield

runfargirl marathon

When I crossed the finish line of the Sugarloaf Marathon in 2014, having finally achieved my goal of running a Boston Qualifying time, I knew that I probably wouldn't run the 2015 Boston Marathon. And I was right, when April rolled around this past year I was 38 weeks pregnant. No longer running, I was ready to pop.

runfargirl pregnancy

I wrote about letting go of my dream of running the Boston Marathon here on the blog. Registration day came and went and I was OK with letting go. (I wouldn't find out until a week later that I was pregnant with Liam:) But what I didn't write about was the fact that I let go of my dream of running the Boston Marathon not once, but twice. Just a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant in the fall of 2014 I got a little email from my friends at Stonyfield asking if I wanted to run the 2015 Boston Marathon as part of Team Stonyfield. Knowing I would be late into my pregnancy, I said "no." There are probably a handful of women out there who have run marathons late into their third trimester, but I didn't want to be one of them, even if it was the Boston Marathon. It was a difficult "no" to say, because I let go of the opportunity all over again.

I had resigned myself to the fact that I would re-qualify and run Boston in 2017. It's just the way it works, I had said to myself.

But then, just a few weeks ago I got another little email from Stonyfield. One that I was able to respond to with a resounding "YES!" Stonyfield asked me to be part of Team Stonyfield and run the 2016 Boston Marathon and I am beyond thrilled and honored to announce that I said "YES!" and will be running the 2016 Boston Marathon! 

Stonyfield - official yogurt of the Boston Marathon logo

In a way it seems so fitting to me. For years I tried to run a qualifying time, always falling short. The harder I tried, the further I fell short. And then, when I finally did achieve that qualifying time (by over ten minutes) I wasn't able to run. But, here is the opportunity gifted to me and I'm so excited to be able to take it. Sometimes when we let go of the dreams we strive so hard to achieve they find their way back to us in an unexpected and special way.

I'll be chronicling my marathon training here on the blog. I look forward to sharing my journey with you all as I prepare to run the 2016 Boston Marathon with Team Stonyfield!

--Sarah

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