But for my lack of athletic ability, I would totally run full marathons

Question: How long do you think it took us to walk that 1/2 marathon yesterday?

a) 4 hours
b) 2.5 hours
c) 3 hours & 18 minutes

Answer: It took us 3 hours + 18 minutes!!! That's an average of 4 mph. Yes, you could drive through the Disneyland parking lot faster than that. (But just barely.) When we signed up, Lismarie said she did it in 2.5 hours last year. Then she called me and said that she had accidentally but totally lied. It was 3.5 hours. So we changed our starting corral to the underachievers and had SO MUCH FUN. We actually went further than 13.1 miles. We had to walk about a mile to get to the starting line, and then to the ferry terminal downtown after that. But we finished faster than we were expecting, and we still looked cute at the end. In fact, while I was on the phone with Colby after the race, Lismarie got picked up on by some random dude.

Random Dude who may be slightly drunk at noon on a Saturday: How far did you run today?
Lismarie: Ummm, 13.1 miles. (We didn't run, but she didn't want to tell him that).
Random Dude: Whoa, you didn't do the whole thing?
Lismarie: (avoiding eye contact) Nope.
Random Dude: (Eyes her up and down) Yeah, you don't need to run the whole thing. You look gooooooooooood.
Lismarie: (throws up in her mouth)

Good times.

So this was my first race. I never understood why people did these things. But it was SO FUN!!! How can you not have fun when people keep telling you how great you're doing. There were about 10 sets of local cheerleaders along the course cheering on from the sidelines. (My favorite were the 80's rocker cheerleaders and the zombie cheerleaders). Maybe that's what I need, to have people standing next to me all day telling me how awesome I am. Even if I'm just walking and not running (preferably people wearing theme costumes). Plus, according to Gretchen, I got a "winning thing". (Where is your Winning Thing, mom? Can I see your Winning Thing? Why did you get a Winning Thing?) Why indeed? It's a participation medal that will look lovely on Gretchen when she steals it to wear with her princess outfits.

So go us. The girls who spent way too much time in High School being ansty, artsy, misunderstood, and hating everything to do with organized sports just PAID to walk all morning. Who'd have guessed we'd love it so much?