26.2

 Siblings have to be the greatest thing on the whole planet...Next to ice cream that is. My siblings are simply the greatest. Over the past 6 months, Amy and Jared have been training for a marathon. This would be Amy's second one and Jared's first. Did I mention Jared has lost over 60 lbs through running and eating healthy? Because he totally has. This kid has never even run a 5k. But, he agreed to run a marathon. Go big or go home, eh? As much as I wanted to join my sibs in this excursion, I simply could not. I had no one to train with, my last semester of college and applying to grad schools on my plate. I could not afford to go out and run 19 miles alone...nor did I really want to. So, I decided I would support along side my parents. Besides, Nicole is my running soul mate. She would be quite offended if I had done 26.2 without her and her Brooks. 

This morning after sending the runners on their way, Mom, Dad, and myself went to breakfast. I decided not to eat because I was holding out for a much coveted fruite smoothie...which I never got. Around 9:30 all of the intense runners and Kenyans began to cross the finish line. AMAZING. Speedy little thangs!

At 10:30, we got a text that Amy and Jared had hit the half way point (Clearly, they are not exactly Kenyans).
Not even 5 min later, my mom got a call. All I heard was her say, "So, You're dropping out?" Not that I don't have confidence in my brother, but I was sure it had to be Jared. He was not ready for the race. I just knew it. Much to my surprise, it was Amy. Her ankle had not cooperated and she could not continue on. Bummer deal. Jared was already continuing on. What a champ!

After a minute or so, I began to have flashbacks to my half marathon and cross country races. Images of nearly dying came to mind. I remember running by myself and thinking I would probably die on the trail and it would be fine by me. Running brings a lot of thinking time, time that will drive you insane if you are alone. I thought of Jared, who had never run a race,  and went to my suitcase to dig out my shoes. In the mean time, my mother , bless her heart, offered to go run with my brother. Although that would have been quite humorous, it was not an option. I have never seen my mother run a day in her life. Let's be honest, she would have most definitely died. I am confident of that. So, I laced up my sneaks, studied the course map, and was off. 

Mom and Dad dropped me off at what we thought was mile 22. False. 

"Excuse me, what mile is this?" I asked the nice police officer. 

"Girl, this is mile 25.9!"
*Insert curse word here*

Oh beep. Not ideal. I knew Jared was no where near this point yet. So, I began back tracking. Now, the nice thing about the Pittsburg Marathon is that the last 4 miles are  all down hill. Which is great! If you are running the right direction. However, since I was backtracking, my first 4 miles of searching were all up hill. Did I mention it was 80 degrees and humid with no shade anywhere? Slay me.  I could feel my skin scorching. Not to mention I was annoyed with every single person who kept telling me I was going the wrong way. Um, yeah I could not tell that by the 20,000 runners running straight at me Some men along the trail were passing out shots of beer to runners, I seriously considered taking one or two. The only way I could justify my insanity at this point would be if I was drunk. Also, remember how I never ate breakfast. Yeah. I remembered that the entire 13 miles I was running.

Finally, around mile 19, I saw a green shirt, a sweaty sunburnt face, and a fohawk. Jared. I had found him. 

"Jared!" I screamed enthusiastically. His smile showed that he was just as excited to see me as I was to see him. 

"Am I almost done? Where is the rest of the family? Where's the ending"

Oops. 

It was apparent that he was under the impression that seeing me meant the end. So I explained to him what had happened. He thanked me for coming and admitted that he was ready to die. We continued on. Coming back the way I just had--except this time it was down hill. Praise the heavens!

Jared was an absolute champ. We drank gatorade, ran, walked, dumped ice on each other, and talked. It was pretty great! Granted, everyone had already seen me run by once, so many people were confused my the girl in with the apple red face, huge Utah t-shirt, and  wearing no number. But, whateves. 

I like to think I am in pretty good shape, but I was not ready to run an entire half marathon today by any means, so I can imagine how Jared was feeling. I wanted to punch everyone who at mile 20 said, "The finish line is so soon!" As they sat there and ate their potato chips, ice cream, and drank wine.

Boo.

The last mile we stepped it up. The last mile is my favorite part of a race. All the people are there cheering for you, the end is in sight, and you get an energy boost. So, I taught Jared my tricks. We picked one girl we wanted to beat and kept her in mind. However, she ended up walking the last 1/2 mile, so we easily kicked her trash. What up?!

When we saw the finish, we saw the fam bam. I fist pumped Jared and bowed out the last 200 yards. I could not cross without a number. They probs would have arrested me, who knows. Plus, this was Jared's thing. He deserved to have the fame! 

The announcer yelled, 

"Crossing the finish line now is Jared Delouder!"
(It would be to weird if anyone ever pronounced our name right)

We met up with everyone and reminisced on the events of the day. Amy was devastated she had to drop out, but she is still a champ! So proud of my siblings today!

Maybe I stole Jared's medal for this. I wanted one!

After today, I feel sorry for my future kids. I am going to be the biggest soccer mom. I can already picture pins with photos of my children in their uniforms on my bags and sweatshirts, signs with their name, and naturally pictures of all events. 

I am just one proud woman!