I think I win the best sign contest!, originally uploaded by Random and Odd.

The night before the race, the wind was crazy. I woke up the morning of the marathon and I thought they would have to cancel it because the rain was coming in sideways and the drops were the size of kittens!
I checked Facebook and Amanda was getting on the bus to head to the starting line. Birdie picked me up and we headed over to meet up with Victoria, her mom and Amanda’s husband.
The rain…was ridiculous. Birdie and I kept laughing all the way there, “This is just stupid.”

We found our spot at mile 14. No runners had been through at that point and we were huddled under the bus stop signs in hand. When we saw the police cars coming down we knew the runners were coming through.
We stood out there for 2 hours cheering for each and every runner.
It was fun to watch them as they slowly read the sign and then they would start laughing and point. I heard, “BEST SIGN EVER!” and “THANK YOU. I NEEDED THAT!”
Don and I would laugh at all the people who would laugh and point.
I was waiting for someone to roll their eyes, but no one did. They seemed happy to have someone stupid enough to stand in the pouring rain to cheer for them.

For me this was an awesome experience. I had 2 hours to look at all the really cool shoes and point out what I wanted to buy. “I want that jacket. Oh, look at those arm sleeves! I want those. NEAT HAT!” it was like a fashion show!

By the time Amanda and Ashlee got there the sign was falling apart and I tossed it after they headed on. We piled in the car soaked all the way through and headed to mile 21.
Don was texting with Amanda so we knew she was at mile 20 and struggling a bit with the wall. I kicked off my shoes and socks and took off my poncho, 2 jackets and started back the mile to meet up with her. I made it about a half mile and I saw her power walking. I ran along side of her and talked to her, to get her mind off what was getting to her.
“Okay, what would you do different next time.” She laughed at the ‘next time’. I told her she might not ever want to do this again, but she will once her butt was done cramping and she was fully recovered.
At this point I saw this guy who was wearing these shoes that the woman at Fleet Feet was trying to sell me. They were all cushion. I think they are called Hoya or something, he looked down at me barefoot running with my friend and said, “I am SO JEALOUS of your bare feet right now!”
This woman looked down and looked at me and said, “OMG, you’re amazing doing this whole thing barefoot!”
I laughed, “NO NO NO, I’ve only did about a mile of this barefoot, SHE is the amazing one! She’s the one running this!!” and hugged Amanda to me.

Proud doesn’t cover it. I wish there was a word bigger than proud to describe how I feel for my friend.

Today Victoria and I did our run in Sculpture Park. Nellie came and we ran her day with her and then walked ahead to the 2 mile point so we could run the whole 2 miles back. When the evil lady in my phone said, “You are half way!” I was surprised. I felt much better than I normally do at the half way point. My pace was all over the board because I spent a good solid 5 minutes yelling at my Pandora station. It was stuck on a commercial and kept playing it over and over like a damn rap song. I couldn’t get it to quit to find a new program to use and as soon as I figured it out, it found a cool song and I was forced to be Pandora’s bitch.

Victoria kicked ass today. I look at her and remember week one, day one at this girl struggling with 60 seconds of running and now she is pushing on and ready to go for 30 straight minutes. I remember her first 1 mile straight and today she did two without stopping.
If absolutely nothing comes from my running except the fact that I proved to Victoria that she could, I will be the happiest person in the world with that accomplishment.

Next up. Her graduation 5k.
We are all doing the Resolution Run. We even have a few Honey Badgers signing up. I think it will be great for Bitsy and Birdie to meet because Birdie just needs to run with someone who is as fast or faster than she is and runs marathons to prove to her that she can do it too. I am going to say it…I bet you that Birdie runs a half marathon this year. She has only ran a 10k at the most…but just watching her, I know she can do it!

I believe.