and glasses, wigs or multicolored hair, a huge man in a bigfoot costume, and a group of at least twenty men and women with matching t-shirts that read Sloth Running Club… We May Be Slow But We’re Adorable.
My friends and I were decked out in the Dirty Martini Running Club tank tops Nora had made, our race numbers pinned to our shirts. Although we hadn’t planned to match the rest of our attire, we all had our hair in ponytails and had paired our tank tops with either blue or pink shorts. Blue for me and Sophie, pink for Everly and Nora.
As predicted, we looked fabulous.
But the most fabulous runner award had to be the peacock man. He was tall with a spiked purple and teal mohawk that matched his bright teal bodysuit. A fan of enormous peacock feathers was attached to the back of his costume and it rustled in the breeze as he strutted around the starting area. I didn’t know how he was going to manage to run the entire distance in such an elaborate costume, but it did look impressive.
The cold air made goosebumps rise on my bare arms, but I’d warm up once we started running. I shifted from side to side, my entire body tingling with nervous energy.
I knew I was prepared. I’d followed the training program religiously. When I’d completed the final long run before the race, I’d felt good, considering I had just run ten miles. Logically, I had every reason to believe I would not only complete this race, but finish with a time I could be proud of.
And yet doubt lingered in my mind. The girl who would have done just about anything to skip gym class in favor of sitting on the sidelines with a book was still inside me. Could I actually do this? Could I run an entire half-marathon?
“Where’s Mr. Calloway? I mean, Shepherd,” Sophie asked Everly. “Is he coming down to watch? Or is there a view of the route from your condo?”
“He’ll be here,” Everly said. “He said he’d see me at the finish line. And I think my sister and her wife are coming, and so are Richard and Dahlia.”
“Are Ethan and Grant running today?” Sophie asked.
Ethan and Grant were Everly’s brother-in-law and his partner. “They are, but they’re so fast, they’re probably starting way up front. Ethan texted me early this morning to wish us all good luck.”
“You’re going to have an entire cheering section,” Nora said with a smile.
“It’s so nice. I love them so much,” Everly said. “Is Jensen still in town?”
Nora dramatically rolled her eyes. “Yes. I made the mistake of telling him about today and he said he’d come watch me finish.”
“That’s sweet of him.”
“I suppose, although he probably has an ulterior motive,” Nora said with a shrug. “But that’s okay, I’ll make him buy us all breakfast after the race.”
“My dad wanted to come but I told him to stay home and just watch the livestream online,” Sophie said. “He doesn’t get around very well these days and he’d probably just yell curse words like a drunken pirate.”
Nora laughed. “Oh my god, your dad is my favorite.”
My friends didn’t ask me if anyone would be waiting for me at the finish line. We all knew there wouldn’t be, so I was glad they didn’t bring it up.
“Well, look at this, they actually showed.” Bella Fernadale’s sneering voice made my back tighten.
The Bedazzled Bitches had never looked so… bedazzled. They wore black baseball caps with gold gems lining the edges and the word Bitches spelled out in pink rhinestones. Gold, silver, and pink gems filled the lettering on their tight tank tops. One of the girls turned to the side and I saw that they even had Bitches bedazzled in sparkly pink and gold across their backsides.
“Nice outfits,” Nora said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “It’s a good thing all those gems are cheap plastic, otherwise the weight of them might interfere with your time.”
“These weren’t cheap,” Drew said, pointing at herself with both hands. “We ordered the rhinestones from a specialty manufacturer.”
“That’s weird, they look exactly like the ones I saw at the Dollar Store the other day,” Sophie said.
“Shut it, Miss Piggy,” Bella said.
Nora lunged for her but Everly and I caught her by the arms. “I swear to god, I will claw out your eyeballs and replace them with those trashy gemstones.”
“It’s okay, Nora, they can’t hurt my feelings,” Sophie said.
I kept my grip on Nora