The Rock and Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon happens the Sunday right before Halloween. The Bravo Zone was in full effect with their first mission back since Chicago, helping nearly 5,000 runners in Los Angeles cross the finish line and reach their PRs.

A few weeks before the group headed out to Chicago for the marathon, I got a text asking if KRC wanted to run a relay with Nike Chicago the Friday before the race. The prize? $1000. I texted back and asked if we would be running against a bunch of skinny, fast dudes in 3-inch shorts. I got a reply of, “Probably.” Fearing that answer, I accepted on my team’s behalf. The next step was to find a team.

We asked our friend Drea to share her thoughts on running her first marathon and what it was like training closely with 40 other women for the past three months with the Nike Women Marathon Project.