When Pigs Fly

From Wikipedia:
>>>"When pigs fly" is an idiomatic way of saying that something will never happen. Pigs are heavy animals, without wings, and cannot possibly fly. So "when pigs fly" is a time that will never come.

The phrase is used for humorous effect to scoff at someone's intentions to achieve or carry out something which is beyond their previous efforts and accomplishments<<<

I'm going to wear my medal everywhere!

Congrats to Becky too on an awesome run time of 4:09:07 (unadjusted)

Yes, there are certain things in this world that are impossible; just never meant to be, and we have sayings for them … When pigs fly; In a month of Sundays; When hell freezes over; When the sun rises in the west; Once in a blue moon; When Mary Lou runs a marathon …

On rare occasion in sport the stars align, ability and determination trumps expectations, the unimaginable happens. People compete beyond their known ability and records are broken, the underdog prevails, miracles happen: Roger Bannister’s 4 minute mile, the ’69 Mets; the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team’s Miracle on Ice, Mary Lou runs a marathon ...

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t quite all that dramatic, and lord knows it wasn’t pretty. It definitly was far from perfect, but the fact remains, I did, indeed, run a marathon. It played out much different than it had days previous in my head, it hurt more than I ever could've imagined, it didn't go as planned and the downhill running meant I was in trouble by mile 13, and I was much slower than my goal pace.

I've been telling people that in the days immediately following the race I experienced a common phenomenon I've dubbed "PMF" or 'Post Marathon Funk.' Part of it was adjusting to having accomplished something you've worked months for, part of it was dealing with my disappointment in knowing that I did my best on that day but that I can do better.

Between the joy and dissatisfaction there was something else, perspective. I'm posting this with much hesitation, but if nothing else it does help make my case for an unlikely accomplishment. Below are my marathon stats along with a picture of me 5 years ago. When Pigs Fly, when Mary Lou runs a marathon.

Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
May 4, 2008
Mary Lou Hoffman, #2097
Age:44, Gender: F
Distance MAR
Clock Time 4:43:37
Chip Time 4:40:30 (26.45) *
Adj Time 4:37:50
Overall Place 2893 / 4734
Gender Place 945 / 2010
Division Place 154 / 262
6.8M 1:08:13
12M 2:00:33
13.1M 2:10:50
19.7M 3:17:52
25.2M 4:27:22
Divtotal 262
Sextotal 2010
Pace 10:36

I'll spare you all the details of the race, with the exception of the asterisk to denote that a fire on the marathon route caused a detour that added a little over a quarter of mile (just what we needed!).