"Jamie, I'm going to puke. I'm literally going to puke right here in the starting corral," Eddie said as she and Jamie made their way through the sea of people to find a good spot for her to stand while they waited for the gun to go off for the start of the marathon.
He grabbed both her hands and squeezed. "No you're not. You got this, Eddie. It's just the nerves talking. Once you get started, the nausea will go away and your nerves will calm down. You'll find your pace and it will be old hat. Think of all that training you did, all the miles and hours you put in. You gotta trust your training."
Eddie looked doubtful. "I only trained to twenty. What about the last six miles?"
"Don't let it get to you mentally. Take it one mile at a time. Your body can do it. So what's your mantra?"
"My what now?" Eddie asked, confused as she jumped up and down in place to stay loose and tried to get the jitters out.
"You know, a phrase that you say to yourself or something that you think about to get you through the tough spots."
"Oh—well I'm kind of partial to Ryan Gosling," Eddie confessed, blushing a little.
"Ryan Gosling?" Jamie smirked.
"Yeah, haven't you seen the memes? You know, the 'Hey Girl' memes?"
Jamie smiled. "You mean like- 'Hey Girl, that fuel belt makes your butt look fantastic!'?"
Eddie laughed. "That's a good one- I haven't seen that one!"
"Yeah, I guess I saw a few of those on signs around the course last year…whoah, looks like it's time. I'll see you at mile six just like we planned, okay?"
Eddie looked terrified as he pulled away from her. "You'll do great!" He yelled back at her. "I've got $50 bucks riding on you to beat Reynolds- so you better do great, Janko!"
"Thanks, no pressure—hey- aren't I worth more than $50, Lambchop?" Eddie yelled back.
Jamie winked back at her and then he disappeared in the crowd. Before she knew it, everyone started to move forward as the gun went off and she was forced to start running whether she wanted to or not.