Erica Silbiger had been dreaming of a BQ for 6 years. The closest she had gotten to her 3:35 qualifying standard was over three years ago when she ran 3:46. Her journey continued but after many marathons and various training plans she got injured and had to take 6-months off. She then bought her first Run SMART plan last summer with the goal of feeling strong and staying healthy throughout her build-up for New York City. Progress! 3:52, no injuries and feeling strong!
A New Year
This is where the magic began! On January 1st, 2017 Erica started her second custom plan and proceeded to set new personal bests for 5k, 10k and the half marathon. Wham! All of sudden her VDOT showed a Marathon Equivalent time of 3:24. She was not convinced heading into her goal race at the Providence Marathon, “I knew that goal was impossible and thought I should still train as if I was going for the 3:24 with the mentality that I could feel more confident about hitting that 3:40 now.”
The Dream Comes True
Voila! Erica’s hot streak continued in Providence with an 18-minute PR and the fulfillment of her journey to Boston. Her official time was 3:28:38. [Full results]
“Even as I type this I still feel like it didn’t happen and I am still dreaming. Never in my life have I showed up at the start line feeling more confident about a race or my abilities. I honestly thought that a BQ would never be in the cards for me. After every race that turned into a let down, I would tell myself that I’m just not the kind of person who would BQ. I’m not built for it. I never thought that I would say “I’m running the Boston Marathon.” You made that possible for me. You gave me something that 6 years of training never did. And you did it in 5 months.
I can’t thank you enough for this feeling that I have right now and this sense of accomplishment that I truly never thought I would feel. I am running the 2018 Boston Marathon. I am running the 2018 Boston Marathon. I’m going to keep saying that until I finally believe it. And you better believe that I will be reaching out in December for another training plan to get me to Hopkinton in April. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.” – ES