KICKIN' BOOTIE AND TAKIN' NAMES

Greetings from a special guest blooger. The pleasure is all yours.

For those of you who know my wife, you already understand that she likes to run. When I say "likes to run," I don't mean just taking a nice leisurely jog on a sunny day, I mean crazy-long-death-march-type distance running that any normal person would classify as insane. She is quite infatuated with it. Thanks to some other freaks at her office, she became interested in marathons several years ago. 2 years ago, she ran the Hogeye half marathon and did quite well. Last year, she planned to run the full Hogeye marathon but ended up getting injured and couldn't run the race. So, most of 2009 she's been training for the Hogeye marathon in the spring.

Well, today was the big day. A perfect day for a nice run in hilly Fayetteville: cloudy, 40 degrees, 25 mph wind gusts, and a 7:30 AM starting time. Why on earth don't more people have running outdoors as a hobby? To give you an idea of how jacked up Michelle was about the race, she peed a total of 6 times in the hour and a half before the race. 5 of these times were in actual restroom facilities - trust me, you don't want to hear any details about the 6th...

Katie and I were there at the start of the race to see Michelle off on her journey. As soon as she ran past us, we elbowed our way past a few of the marthon stragglers and hurried to the car. There were 2 main reasons for this: (1) it was freaking cold out there and only a full retard would be taking part in anything that required them to be outdoors and (2) Katie and I were headed to the donut shop. You know what they say, "If you can't beat them, join...." no, that doesn't apply. Anyway, I was hungry.

Several pounds of dough later, Katie and I drove to our first predetermined "cheer and refueling" location. My wonderful wife had been kind enough to tell me exact locations on the route to meet her with exact snacks. I had a list of snacks with corresponding locations marked on a map. Outstanding.

Now, I knew that during Michelle's training she had averaged about 10 minute miles, so I planned to meet her a little early at the 9 mile mark (or, as I like to call it, "Nav Point Alpha"). Well, Michelle was really getting after it and we ended up driving past her on our way to Nav Point Alpha. ABORT MISSION!! ABORT MISSION!! One illegal U-turn, several disgruntled marathon runners, and many single-finger salutes later, Katie and I popped green smoke at Nav-Point-Delta, our back-up rendezvous point for the first cheering and refueling operation.

After this initial mishap, Katie and I got our act together and completed several more cheering and refueling operations along the route.

Here are a few recon photos from the successful mission:

Michelle about to insult this dude's manhood when she passes him.

Michelle getting after it.

Michelle about to cross the finish line.

Did I mention the race was in Fayetteville?

Today, Michelle ran the Hogeye Marathon (26.2 miles) in 3 hours, 53 minutes, and 7 seconds. For all of you non-engineers who can't do the math in your head, she was running each mile in an average of 8.9 minutes. This really is an impressive pace and a terrific time. She finished 2nd overall among the women in her first ever marathon.

Baby, you're awesome and I'm so proud of you. Congratulations on the completion of one of your dreams. You didn't just finish a marathon or just run a marathon, you were kickin' bootie and takin' names. I love you and thank you for not making me run it with you.