Run the Sahara? Methinks Not...or maybe. Or Yes.

So yesterday, while I was innocently minding my own business and having a crazy day filled with an assortment of annoying and stressful situations, I get the following text from Tara:

Now for those of you that have not been forced to spend any quality time -like running a marathon (sorry Abby) - with Tara or myself, you may not be able to read between the lines of this simple text.

Let me assure you, dear readers, within the first five minutes of watching this documentary, Tara had already envisioned herself trotting through the desert with a turban wrapped around her head prancing side by side with camels.

Here was my immediate response:

Now before I get slapped with being labelled as a buzz kill, I would like to point out a few things. This is pretty much how all of our adventures go down. Tara comes up with something ridiculous and crazy and I say no. Then something happens in my brain and not only do I find myself agreeing to do whatever crazy thing but I somehow up the ante.

I pretty much said no to running a full marathon. I clearly remember saying NO about fifty times to running the NYC Marathon.

Tara: I think we should run New York.

Me: No.

Tara: But it's through all five boroughs!

Me: No.

(repeat 50 times)

Then somehow I ended up not only agreeing to run a full marathon (never mind that the 2012 NYCM never actually occurred...) but I figured, hell, if we're going to do that, we might as well do Goofy while we're trained for a full.

Tara: I still think we should run New York.

Me: No.

Tara: I'm totally running New York.

Me: Well, we might as well do Goofy then, too.

So a little funny text about running the Sahara may seem perfectly innocent to some people. No way I'm running through the Sahara for no good reason. I mean, I live in the effing desert and it pretty much sucks. Summer is like nine months long! You could conceive and birth a baby in the season of summer out here in the desert. Who would be stupid enough to go to Africa just to run in the desert?

Wait... Then the wheels in my own brain start turning and I start picturing MYSELF prancing through the desert with camels because I just remembered that there's a marathon at Petra.

SEE? See how this happens? One minute, I'm the voice of reason and then the next minute, I'm finding a way to make it happen. I mean, how amazing would running by Petra be? It's a bucket list thing, anyway. Two birds, one stone, blah, blah, blah...

Source

So now I've gotten myself all excited about the possibility and I'm ready to get on the crazy train to Africa only to find that they no long can hold the Petra Marathon.

Boooooo.

Tara and I have known each other for nearly 20 years and we were room mates in the 90's so there have been a lot of scenarios just like this that have played out of the years, including a random car trip to a truck stop on the California border to get pie at 2:00AM.

Tara: Let's do something.

Me: Let's drive somewhere fun.

Tara: California!

Me: It's almost midnight.

Tara: So?

Me: Let's go to the Flying J and eat pie.

Granted, we weren't old enough to buy alcohol back then, so that's my only excuse for driving 4 hours for pie in the middle of the night. Although, side note: we never made it because I had a tire blow out in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night. And I was driving on a suspended license. But that's a story for another day.

We've traveled so much together that we joke about being heterosexual life mates. I hope we both end up marrying men that can appreciate our unique ability to do crazy shit, because otherwise, they'll get left at home.

This kind of behavior has only gotten worse since we completed Goofy. Never mind how horrible and crippling it was. Once you cross the finish line of the marathon portion, your brain thinks that you have somehow gained super powers.

Anyway, a big thanks to Tara for being a super partner in crime, cuz, hell. I don't think we would have done half of the stuff we've done if we didn't enable each other. Although, Tara doesn't see it as enabling.

And we wouldn't have awesome pictures like this:

One of my most favorite pictures EVER.

Now I'm off to go research other possible racing opportunities, since Petra is off of the list. Great Wall of China, here I come!

Anyone else have an amazing partner in crime?