Being Ready for the Marathon Goes Beyond Race Day

When I'm asked if I'm ready for race day, I don't know how to answer. Am I ready for the race itself? Am I ready for what comes next? And what does this all mean?

Now that I’m officially in taper, the thing I’m asked most often is if I feel ready for race day. It’s a simple question, but it’s also a loaded question. What does it mean, really, to be ready for the race? I know I can do the distance, I know what I’m going to wear, I know my fueling and hydration plan. If we’re looking at this objectively, I do feel ready for the race. But I think the race is bigger than the race itself. I’ve spent six months preparing for one day. 

I have a sense of excitement leading up to the race. Since May, I’ve had a singular focus. Back then, it seemed a long way off and quite daunting. Now, the marathon is right around the corner, so I feel that I’m contending with a different set of questions. Perhaps one of the most difficult things about marathoning will be figuring out what to do when it’s all over. That’s what has occupied my mind space as I’ve gone through my first week of tapering. 

I don’t think the taper “tantrums” have set in for me — yet — but I am feeling the existential dread of “now what?” A marathon is so hard, so all-consuming, and then it will be over. I’ll have to fill my time again. I’ll have to look toward another goal. 

A few months ago I remember Coach Dana telling me to really relish the moment of my race. It will be here and then it will be over, but soak it in. Don’t sign up for anything else immediately. It’s a joke among running influencers that folks who have just completed a marathon are signing up for their next marathon, even if they’re stiff and sitting in Epsom salt baths trying to recover. 

Perhaps “are you ready for race day?” is not just asking if I’m ready for race day, but if I’m ready for a defining moment in my life. Of course I’m ready to celebrate months and months of hard work! And then recover from the hard work… and then what. 

I thought about the “then what” when Kimberly and I were planning our wedding. After getting engaged in April 2023, we immediately started preparing for our wedding at the end of April 2024. As our wedding date neared I wondered how I’d fill my spare time after the wedding. Planning a wedding takes up so much time. And a week after the wedding I started training. It’s been so long since I’ve not had some big, giant thing looming in the future that requires months, if not a year, of preparation.

Kimberly and I at our wedding reception.

 So while I can say that yes, I feel ready for race day, I don’t know if I feel ready for what’s after. I like to relax, but I have trouble with slowness. Most of my life, I’ve been someone who says yes to everything. I’m always volunteering to do something new or signing up to help with this, that, or the other. In therapy over the past six months, I’ve been talking about letting go of feeling like I need to be involved in everything, but what does that look like when life gets slow again, especially for the first time in over a year? 

Part of me is excited about this. I’ve been sitting on the first draft of a book manuscript for months and I’d like to finish the next draft by the time I attend StokerCon in June 2025. Last November I learned how to knit, and I’m excited to finish some projects and start some new ones. Earlier this month I sewed my first garments with my secondhand sewing machine, and I’d like to try my hand at doing something a bit more complicated than a penguin costume and basic skirt.

Me, in my handmade witch costume.

 But then I think about the wide expanse of time and I wonder if I’ll be fulfilled just taking time to rest and watch movies and craft things and write. Will I want to immediately start chasing the next big goal? Will I sign myself up for something else that will take a lot of time? 

But I think I should savor the slowness and the restorative power of rest. Perhaps my next great challenge is learning how to balance my life with all the things I love.