Cabot Fit Team Race Recap – Vermont City Marathon and Relay

Disclosure: As part of the Cabot Fit Team, Cabot Creamery covered my travel expenses for 2014 Key Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay. I was not compensated to write this post. 

Last month, I added another chapter to my “Will Run For Food” adventures.

As I wrote about before, I was named to the #CabotFit team this year which was a complete thrill because:

a) I adore me some Cabot cheese and I discovered some new favorites during my Vermont weekend including Alpine Cheddar from the new Legacy Line and Old School Cheddar – aged 5 years!)

b) I totally dig their overall philosophy of eating well/living healthfully (not to mention I’m kind of partial to dairy famers)

c) I got to meet in person some truly fabulous healthy living/fitness/food loving bloggers – and see them tackle a race course and achieve some incredible accomplishments during the Vermont City Marathon & Relay.

*Both Kelly and Kristina grabbed marathon PRs.

*Carissa persevered through hills to earn her half marathon medal along with Joanne (who ran back to back half marathons in two weeks.) Mary – sidelined with a stress fracture – was our biggest cheerleader (this lady has completed 58 MARATHONS to date!)

*My superstar relay team of Marlow, Carolyn, Katie and Amber all conquered their race legs through hills and heat.

I was the last leg (5.5 miles) of the marathon relay team and really, I was feeling guilty about how good I had it. I got to start the race on fresh legs just shy of mile 21 for the full marathoners and got to experience the amazing spectators towards the end of the course while crossing the finish line with those same marathoners.

The one thing I would have changed? Slowed the pace and taken it all in.

As you can see from the photos, I was no-nonsense serious about running strong, achieving the best possible time (which would only be seen on my Garmin as I wasn’t running the half or full race.)

But after reading some of the other gals recaps, I really had a change of heart. Every single race doesn’t have to be about doing your very very best time and in some circumstances, enjoying it more perhaps at a slower pace is really the healthiest thing.

I’m remembering this for my next race in September.

And tomorrow, I’m sharing my one of my favorite power eats/recipe formulas for pre-race days (a sneak peak photo…..)

Have you ever done a “food themed” race? What’s been your favorite destination race/run (or perhaps a race on your bucket list?)