Yesterday, I ran my fourth marathon. I’ve been training since September with early morning runs three days a week and long runs on Saturdays before football games.

You may be thinking, “Wow. She’s going to win this one,” and you’d be wrong. Let’s start from the beginning:

I picked up my packet and was starting to get nervous. But obviously ready to crush the 2:47 female course record.

I woke up early on Sunday to rain pounding on my window and I thought, “Man this race is going to be fun.” Yes, those are Target bags covering my feet. Patent pending.

Emily drove me to the race and hung out for a bit. Was it still pouring? Yes. Was I wearing a poncho? You bet.

The race started with fireworks and I felt pretty good. The Girl Squad (consisting of Emily, Melanie, Kristen, and Libby) were all waiting for me at miles 10, 14, and 20 so I knew if I could just reach them, I’d feel good.

Here they were at mile 10, crushing it with Adele references and attempting to keep Kingsford dry:

 

I felt like a drowned rat, so you could say things were going well. As soon as I left them, I starting losing momentum.

Everything felt like it was uphill.

Thankfully I saw the Girl Squad, again, at mile 14:

How cute/wet are they?

After this, I made my way on campus and was really getting sick of wet feet and the downpour. I needed to distract myself…so I started playing the movie, “Air Force One” in my head. Unfortunately, I got distracted  shortly before the terrorists discovered a secret agent in the luggage room because I saw this near George Bush Library:

I thought to myself:

1. Gross.
2. Was someone angry and pushed it over?
3. Was someone inside when it was pushed over?
4. OR WAS IT THIS EPIC WIND THAT PUSHED IT OVER?
5. I feel like that port-a-potty right now.

My next step was to see the Squad at mile 20. I was so tired, but ready to take on the last 6 miles on campus. It was so empty and depressing. Half the time I wasn’t even sure if I was going the right direction.

But eventually, I made it to the last .2 of the marathon and saw Emily. She ran with me, encouraging me every bit of the way. Mostly, I think she thought I’d pass out.

Man, I’m so attractive.

I sprinted the last .1 miles. And by sprint, I don’t think my pace changed at all. But I made it!

Now, was my goal to end the race in 5 hours and 46 minutes? No. In fact, that’s the worst I’ve ever done. So that should tell you 2 things:

1. Training does nothing.
2. RUNNING IN THE RAIN IS TERRIBLE.

BUT, I will tell you that I was 23rd in my age category and 560th over all. Which, folks, ain’t too shabby.

I literally couldn’t have done it without these girls though. Especially because they took me to get a burger and fries immediately afterward.

Well, even though that was probably the hardest marathon I’ve accomplished (you know, constant blistering rain and wind) it wasn’t terrible because I had the Squad to look for every 6 miles. And it definitely wasn’t my last marathon.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take some Tylenol and rub Bengay everywhere.