I am dead sexy.

So I woke up about 5ish and ate. I got ready and we all met down in the lobby. So here we had Ty, Alemma, Sudsy and Tony, and we all walked to the start line. LOL Well, I was escorted to start line. I have zero night vision, the first thing I saw looked furry, soft and warm so I hugged it and we all had our pics taken with the mascot. That was fun.

The start was near the Pentagon. I am not a history person, but I had never been ton a city that has so much to see. There was the Air Force Monument close by also. It was just crazy to be around all these things that seemed to be important. And we all just ran by like they were not there.

So, now the sun is coming up and I can see things kinda, so we head for the trucks to drop off our bags and then one last potty break. During this time I am telling every person I see in uniform that they are hot or sexy. LOL Everyone that needed to go potty went and then off we went to the start line. We had to jump over the barricade to get in but we got to where we needed to be. So here we got bored and started chatting. The guys went up to where they wanted to start and the ladies all stayed back together at the start. They had banners with projected finish times to start under. So here we are, the girls are just chatting away and setting there Garmns, or HRM. Suddenly we hear a gun and we are like, is that for us? Already? LOL It took 15 or 20 minutes to get across the start line, but it was fun.

We all made sure to rise our arms and cheer as we went across the start, because they said it was on tv and so we should give a good show. Marines are lining the course at this time so, I am still telling them how hot they are. I do this until I learn a new word. Hoorah. Tee hee.

This was my first big city marathon. I had never been through a course so crowded. I had also never dealt with the constantly changing light conditions. Crazy. BTW, Ty has some really strong arms, don't mess with her. Ty became my guide when needed. It was fun. So at every mile marker there was a Marine shouting out splits. Hoorah. LOL Omg, I kept talking and just generally being hyper. At one point a random racer came up to us and said you two sure are having fun. LOL Omg, it was a total blast and I had the giggles pretty much the whole race. So, if you ever giggle through 26.2 miles, it is a great ab workout. LOL

We saw a woman wearing a cheer outfit that said "Go me," on the back. Oh, and I did wear the schoolgirl outfit. Sudsy liked it. LOL The course seemed to snake around all over the place. We had spots wear we could see other people either in front of or behind us. It was crazy. Somewhere around mile 5, a man in his 50's told me the proper way to say Hoorah. So I practiced the rest of the race. :D Ask Ty, she kept telling me to shut up. We ran through a really narrow area where there was a bus running on the side of the road. That was fun. We then ran around some body of water. The some woods were along the side of the road, and um, guys were peeing in the woods. So, I told them to write my name, their name, whatever. OMG, I so had the giggles. I swear I saw a woman go to the woods and pee standing up. How, I don't know. I was still singing Comfortably Numb every now and then. Oh, and the course was lined with a ton of people off and on. I mean cheering crowds up to 5 people deep. It really pumped you up. People were standing on top of concrete barriers yelling and screaming and holding signs. Ty told me I had to quit telling male runners that they has nice butts somewhere close to mile 6. :D

Whenever we came to any type if incline, all you could see was a large mass of humanity bobbing in front of you. People were everywhere. And the team in training people had cheerleaders with sirens in the crowd. There were people running with cowbells to help keep track of each other.

Part of the race was actually on the freeway. Cars were on the other side of concrete barriers speeding by and honking at us. It was just nuts. And some of the overpasses we ran on were concrete. I got so worried about Ty on these. My feet were hurting on the concrete so I am sure her feet were not being tickled. I kept on asking Ty how she was doing, and she kept on saying fine. I am sure she was lying there close to the end.

About right at the 12 mile mark, I was flirting with a Marine (Go figure) and I hear someone trip and hit the ground hard. I turn to look and I see TY sliding on the ground. Yeah, sliding. She gets up and keeps going. We tried to do better watching the road then. I still tripped up a couple of times, but I did okay.

Every couple of miles there was a high school band playing something or another. There were also live bands every couple of miles. Oh, and all the water stations were manned by Marines. Basically, instead of volunteers, we had hot guys in uniform. Oh the horror. LOL Oh, and Ty noticed a really hot photographer and pointed him out. I asked if he was married, and he said no. Call me.

At one point we were running by some huge museum. It was so big I finally asked someone what is that? The Smithsonian, they said. LOL Oh. Okay.

Around mile 18 or so, it was kinda close to the Washington Monument (TONY!!!!) I got stung by a bee. It flew into my shirt, and so I had to flick it out before it stung my bewbie. And it stung my pinkie! Pinkie stinger. Like, oh, you big human. I will nip at your ankle, no, bewbie, no, pinkie. Yes. I will sting your pinkie.

So I keep on being all giggly and bubbly. And we meet some interesting peeps during the race. There was a guy that was running marathon number 299. I asked him if they get any easier, he said no. He went on to say that his 300^th was next week and then he was done. That is a goal. I could not imagine. There was a man and his son carrying flag though the whole race. The father had the American flag wand the son carried the Marine Corps flag. His second son just ran. LOL He said he was too lazy to carry a flag.

After about mile 22 or 23 here was just a wall of walking people that we had to weave in and out of. People would run in front of you and then just stop and walk. LOL. I bumped into a ton of people. Ty heard me say, "It's ok, we are all friends," a lot. I turned my ankle somewhere around mile 24, but I was fine. Like Ty said,my guardian angel does a good job, but s/he has to look like a mess.

Near the end of the race, we were behind a woman with an orange mohawk. LOL A woman approached saying that she kept on seeing me and I was having too much fun. She usually lost track of most of the people around her in a race, but I was always there she said.

So the last hill finally came and I kept yelling at Ty to give it all she had. She was not happy at that point. LOL But she made it. Meanwhile, I finally figured out that no matter the pace, 26.2 miles is really long. LOL And you get a bit sore. LOL

It was very surreal to see the Iwo Jima statue and all the people around it happily chatting away. The finish line was just a mass of people all very happy to have accomplished something that day. I saw Ty pick Sudsy out of the crowd. We got him and went through the food line. LOL If I ever do that again, I am grabbing more food. I was so hungry.

Throughout the race, if you were any where near us, you could hear, "Willa!" "TyTy!" or "Hoorah!"

Best sign we saw: You Have great Legs!

Best Audience Costume: A large man dressed as a Bee ringing a cowbell.

BTW, cowbells rawk!

I hear and read about all these people griping about how ugly the shirt was for the race this year. Um, I don't just see a silly brown t-shirt. I see Ty, Tony, Sudsy, Spacey and Alemma. That shirt represents what we all did together that day. It was not ugly, it was in fact a beautiful experience that celebrated life, friendship and hard work. I love that shirt.