Bowling, Babies, no babies, and Marathons

My little sister was the one that first put the thought in my head about running this marathon. It was a simple email with just one word: "maybe?" and a link to the Nike Women's Marathon. I had already resumed running for a couple of months and had just gotten up to a paltry 2 mile run fairly comfortably. Of course, without hesistation, we both signed up for it the same day.

Problem is she's pregnant.

She figures she can pop the boy out, recover for 5 weeks and hit the road. Mind you, we have no real goals for this race, other than starting and finishing it to get a medal (which I think has to be done within 6 1/2 or 8 hours, depending on what site you read). While I'm doing the novice "running plan", I'm sure the actual marathon will be more of a run/walk, or even walk/run endeavor. So what does this have to do with bowling?

The sooner this baby is out, the sooner my sister can recover and start training. This is besides the fact that she's HUGE, uncomfortable, and suffering from false labors almost every day. I'll be helping her in during her labor (an unofficial doula, I like to think of it) and it's hard to be put on alert and then have my hopes dashed almost daily. I heard from a friend that her friend (it's always how that starts) went bowling and then promptly went into labor. Something about the movement.....So our master plan was to go bowling, have a spicy dinner, and then top it all with a long walk. If she's ready, then this should work, right??

We executed the plan perfectly. Anyone who hasn't yet seen a near term pregnant woman bowl is really missing something! The spicy chinese was excellent, the walk long and pleasant. I stayed there for about an hour after the walk, trying not to hover and say "well, well?" at every sigh. The only pain she felt was a mild pain in her elbow..She assured me to go home, get ready for bed...or get into bed and she's sure to call.

Well, it's 7:53 the next morning and no call. Best laid plans.....