So, she decided to look for all the things that could possibly take as much of her time and effort as physically possible and choose the most impossible to do...

Yes, that's right. Lea Ann trained for, and completed, a marathon.
No, REALLY -- scroll down, there are pictures!

Credit where credit is due... the training was run by the AIDSMarathon Training Program ( www.aidsmarathon.com). The (brilliant) program took weak little Lea Ann and turned her into a marathoner (or something like that). We've been training since May - every Saturday - starting at 7am and 6am in the hotter months. And, for their coaching and support, we only had to raise $1,700!! Yikes! ;-) But I did that, too.

I highly recommend this training program! You can do it!

Here we have Lea Ann, Shay Thomas (Lea Ann's faithful running buddy during the training), and Denise (another of the wonderful AIDSMarathon training program Prodigies) just past the 7 mile mark. You can't identify us too well in this picture (unless you know where to look), but that's probably all the better...

This one is of Shay, Denise, and Lea Ann at around the 19 mile mark - just entering Johns Hopkins' campus.

This one is Shay (waving her arms in victory), Denise, and Lea Ann crossing the finish line. Although, as of now, official times haven't been posted, unofficially, the estimate of the time is 7:15. (that's 7 HOURS, 15 MINUTES.)

This is Denise, Shay, and Lea Ann after their glorious finish!
(Some friends commented that we're in our baked potato wrappers... (-: )

Finally, we have Lea Ann at the finish with her "finisher's" medal.