If pigs could fly.....

It's not impossible.

If I can finish a marathon, really anyone can. I tell that to everyone who will listen, to anyone who says they couldn't possibly do it themselves. I repeat: If I can do it, you can too. It just takes a little bit of discipline and a plan.

So having apparently been inspired by my marathon finish last year, my sister begged me to run with her this year. And so we went on to do two 10K races this year, along with my cousin for support. My sister ran spring and fall races with great enthusiasm and always finished with a smile.

And now onto bigger things. Since I bought her a race for Christmas last year, she's decided to return the favor -- for my birthday, belatedly, she's gone and outdid me. Not only did she today register us for a half marathon, she booked us for 13.1 miles in Cincinnati, OH.

FLYING PIG 2008!

Now it's not a total surprise because she and I have talked about this for weeks now. The idea was sprung on us by her husband, somewhat in passing but enough that when he said it, he also looked it up on the web to give us more details because we were intrigued by the thought of hanging out at his family's farm in northern Kentucky, but also that the magical asparagus I've heard about for three years will actually be in season by the time the race rolls around.

I didn't want to talk about this race, make promises, just in case it turned out like the MCM in Washington. But my sister hit her Dec. 1 deadline of signing us up. It's going to be great. I'm sure this party is going to grow... I have this way of infecting people with crazy ideas like going on the road for a road race.

I'm looking forward to training for something. Hail to the treadmill!