We are excited to announce our Vermont City Marathon Rookies for 2018. There are five of them, and they are all related! How cool is that? In the coming weeks, we will hear all about their training and motivation.

Ellane

Hi there, I am Ellane. This year I am embarking on an interesting journey. For all technical purposes, this is my first marathon. VCM here I come! Why I say technically my first marathon is because, in 2016, I trained alongside your Rookie Sarah Springer it was to be our first ever marathon. As fate would have it at no fault of VCM or us, the unfortunate event occurred, a weather trifecta that ended up with a black flag of the event. We were crushed, but without that experience, both myself and Sarah would not be as determined to make this the year. We will be at the 30th annual Vermont City Marathon. We will cross that finish and earn the name Marathoner!

Here is a fun little twist: we will not be alone. Yeah, that’s right, we are bringing friends; more rookies!

Before I get too far ahead, I should tell you a little about myself. I have lived in Vermont 19 years. I am a care provider for children and adults. I also am the Co-Captain of the Villainous Vixens Dragonboat Team, raise money for local cancer charities, and having fun while doing it. Mother of two and kind of a workaholic that does many different creative things. I don’t think of myself as a full-time runner -- maybe a sometimes run/walker --this will be a challenge for sure. I am optimistic. When I set my mind to things, I am pretty unstoppable.

When asked, 'why are you running a marathon,' my answer has been simple, “Why Not? It is not something many people do. There are not a lot of requirements besides doing the training and learning about your willpower to succeed at something that you didn’t think was possible.

Now, here is a fun little twist remember: those friends I mentioned before, those other rookie’s, they are not just friends, they are My Family. I may have inadvertently convinced others to train by a post on social media, a pre-training gym picture with the #picsoritdidnthappen. In return, Sarah posted with her pre training picture  #picsorellanesaysitdidnthappen. From that came my aunt in West Virginia, Kimber, with the hashtag at me. My response, "Can we make this a thing, Please?". Kimber said, "I am in, and I want to train for the marathon too!". Whoop whoop, another rookie! Then to my surprise, my older sister in Florida, Chantel, commented that she decided to join us in the VCM too! Along came my second cousin from California, Angela. She is in Vermont attending college and has been convinced to run. She will be splitting the full with a friend, as she runs for cross country, her coach advised her to split the full. As you can see, my family is spread out. None of us are originally from Vermont or Eastern U.S. All three generations of my family look forward to sharing with you our journey through the experience of becoming Marathoners.

Let’s meet the family.

Kimber

I have trained for a marathon in the past but was unable to race due to a family situation. I’m 49 and have been in the Army for 29 years. I love running because it helps me relax and deal with my stress. I believe that if you cannot find the answers to your problems after a three-hour run, you aren’t going to. I’ve had a period of inactivity, and recently I've started getting back into it. My niece, Ellane, asked me to run this marathon with her. I wanted to train for one again, but I was a little hesitant to try this soon after barely getting back to running. I figured that this could be a way to keep me focused on training. My goal is to finish simply. Soon after, my grand-niece and niece, Angela and Chantel, also decided to sign up. I didn’t expect this to become such a big event, but I’m honored to be part of three generations of runners in my family. We keep each other motivated, and I’m excited to make the journey with these fantastic women!

Chantel

I’m fun, athletic, enjoy life, and love coming up with new challenges and ways of testing my body's limits. My sister and aunt came up with this wonderful idea to run a marathon! I convinced myself that it would be an awesome experience, not only to share with them but to challenge myself.

Angela

I am the youngest of all of us running this year. I currently run on the cross country team at Norwich University. I am athletic, talkative and intelligent. My reason for running VCM relay is to get in shape during my offseason, and because Ellane talked me into it. I will be following the same training as Sarah, Kimber, Chantel, and Ellane; although I was advised by one of my coach’s to run the half, I want the challenge to keep me motivated.

Sarah

We have Sarah. She is one of my friends. She originally convinced me to run in 2016 so; she started all this, haha. Although Sarah isn’t blood-related to any of us, she is my family--the kind of family you get to choose. Sarah is sweet, funny, and just one of those people you want to have around. She is also Co-Captain of the Villainous Vixens Dragonboat Team. In these rambling, I am sure there will be many mentions of our training adventures leading up to the marathon.

What an adventure and it’s only the beginning!

#familyfun

Until Next Time,

Ellane