At my soon-to-be former agency, they have many catch phrases. “One Team, One Dream” and “Nothing is Impossible.”

As the economy soured, the agency adopted one more, “Winning Ugly Together.” The premise was that we would have to be scrappy and competitive and pull out all of the stops in order to win. And this kind of winning might be quite ugly – late nights, aggressive maneuvering, etc.

Well, I’d like to say that today, Frank and I “Ran Ugly Together.” Frank slowed his running pace to be just-faster-than-a-brisk-walk and I tried (sometimes successfully) to run at a pace that I consider sprinting (it’s really not even close to a sprint). I had a 3 mile run on the schedule. We pushed and grunted and made otherwise weird (athletic?) noises throughout the entire run.

And we did it. We made it over 3 miles. (original estimates had it pegged at 3 1/2 miles, but it was really more like 3 1/4 miles). And I booked it for the last quarter mile (because of other biological needs).

We were scrappy and dedicated. We pulled out all of the stops – we ran through cramps, we stretched out hammies, we boldly ran past dogs and old men. And as we stumbled up the bike path to our house, Frank said, “Well, 8 more of those and we’d have a marathon.”

My initial response was, “ha – heck no!”

But then I thought about it.

“Nothing is Impossible,” I thought. We could do it.

Sure, it would be grueling, but if I got myself primed this fall and then started a really great cross-training program over the winter and then started an amazing marathon training type program in the summer – I could be ready for next year’s Chicago Marathon (sorry Toni – not gonna happen this year… ).

“One Team, One Dream,” I think. If we were dedicated to the cause, we could totally pull it off.*

I would want us to make tee-shirts for the occasion (ah, the sorority girl in me rears her ugly head).

They would be simple. White tees. Black writing. “Running Ugly Together.”

So, anyone want to start this training program with us? Frank, you in?

*A possible pregnancy would delay this by 1 year, probably. It’s a whole different kind of marathon. In that case, I would make tees that said, “Laboring Ugly Together.”