I have a surprise for you!!!

First off, is anyone having weird issues with comments from anonymous people? I'm getting spam comments that don't even make sense except there's a spam link. They're not showing on the blog - only in my comment notification email. It's almost as if someone is commenting, then deleting the comment so only I'll see. I don't want to set up the word verification again, so am currently moderating comments and hoping whoever this is goes away. It seems a little odd and creepy...
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So I've been keeping a secret, and keeping it has been VERY difficult.

I announced way back in mid-March I would participate in Barefoot Neil's I Can't Afford The Actual Race virtual marathon.

My first marathon!

The plan was to run this cumulatively over a few weeks, which is an option Neil offered. Having never run farther than a half marathon, I know I can't run a full one without the proper training. I'd actually planned to run my first marathon near the end of NEXT year, to make sure I had enough time to train without hurting myself. At some point between March 14 and April 5 though, I lost my mind. I decided I would run this marathon all in one day!

I'm not completely mad. I won't actually RUN the entire marathon. Superman and I have in the past walked 20 miles, so for this we plan to run one mile, then walk one mile. It's almost exactly 13 miles from my house to his, so we will run that: from my house to his and back.

this is what it's going to look like

I'm guessing it will take us about 8 hours. That is an 18:32 pace, for you number crunchers. It's also just a random, throw-it out-there guess based on no real factual data. Superman believes we will be done in about 6.5 hours. He's guesstimating we will average a 15-minute-mile pace. I think he's very optimistic, considering my 10-miler last weekend was at a 13-minute-mile pace, but we'll see.

My secret is, my first giveaway!

You get a chance to guess how long it will take us! The person closest to our official finishing time will receive a prize! Because I only have 16 official followers, I'll even let you guess over our finishing time and still win. If you are the closest, you win everything a person needs to run a marathon.

A pair of Ryders sunglasses with interchangeable lenses and their own protective case
4 Vanilla Orange Roctane Gu (for those of you not in endurance sports, this is like jelly/candy with potassium and caffeine added)
A 32 oz. Embark water bottle (straight from Target)

Ok, so no shoes or tech gear, but still a nice haul for being straight out of my pocket. Before you post your guess, you should also know we plan to make something of a picnic out of this. I'm bringing bananas and AB&J sandwiches. There's talk of stopping for ice cream. There's also talk of literally crawling our way to the finish.

So what do you think? How long will we be on the road? I'll post a recap with pictures and the winner on May 3.

Oh, and Mom & Dad? I don't think I'll be working at your place that Monday. Just sayin'