NYC Marathon day is my favorite holiday of the year. Yes… I know it’s not an actually holiday. But everything about the experience feels like one.
The momentum builds as runners arrive in the days before, and on Sunday morning the streets are filled with people heading to cheer on friends, family and strangers. There’s so much uplifting energy, excitement and also a bit of nervous anticipation.
I always go to cheer where the runners enter Central Park, which is about a mile from the finish line.
This year, we all got a surprise when one runner shot off a confetti cannon to celebrate reaching the park entrance! 🎉 As usual, I saw several runners pausing to stretch their hamstrings or rehydrate and hundreds of runners focused on their goal of reaching the finish line while we spectators cheered them on, often by shouting the names written across their shirts.
In the days following the marathon I enjoy watching social media posts from other parts on the course, giving me a glimpse of what the runners experienced along the way before getting to the moment where I saw them.
The excitement of starting.
The moments when they found their rhythm.
The stretches that felt harder than expected.
How many times must their feelings, and their expectations, have changed over those miles?
The emotional oscillation of the marathon is not unlike the end of year holiday marathon we’ve entered this week.
It’s early November, and it feels like we've been released from the start line and are off! Celebrations, work commitments, volunteer projects, and holiday events for November and December are quickly filling the calendar.
The plans taking shape are often things I’m excited about. I also have details I’m waiting on, timing I can’t entirely control, and a growing awareness that I’m only at the beginning of this holiday marathon that will continue through the next two months.
I don't know about you, but with all the added social demands, the end of year deadlines and the temperatures dropping, it's so easy for the holiday season to quickly become a time of year that feels stressful and overwhelming, which often means the events I start out the season looking forward to in the end feel more like burdens and burnout than the blessings and celebrations they're intended to be.
So before that happens, I’ve been pausing this week to consider: how do I want to experience this season? And what can I do now to help make that possible?
✨I want to be present.
✨I want room for playfulness and spontaneity.
✨I want to have fun picking out the party dresses or engaging in the activities.
✨I want to experience the joy, magic and celebration that comes with this time of year.
✨And most importantly, I want to enjoy the things I’m looking forward to with enough energy to appreciate them when they arrive.
Like preparing for an actual marathon, there’s value in thinking ahead about what will support us along the way.
Where might we need a little space?
What do we want to give our energy to?
How can we take a little extra care of ourselves to meet these busy times?
What would help us feel supported?
And then there’s the part we can only figure out as we go.
We may need to adjust our pace.
Change a plan.
Let ourselves enjoy a version of something that looks different from what we imagined.
We’re at the beginning of this stretch, and there’s still an opportunity to be intentional about how we shape it.
How do you want to feel as you move through the rest of the year? And what’s one choice you could make now to give that feeling a little more room?
