Finished the 11th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon!

Wow, so much to talk about. First, the weather: The drizzle and lightning delayed the start of the marathon 30 minutes, but no big deal. Then right as my group was most exposed to the elements at mile 22, we got peppered with hail and wind!

By "we," I mean the people whose backs I started to recognize. Gave them nicknames after a while. Thanks for keeping me company Tie-Dye, Green Ranger, Tex, Blue Butt, Cougar and Pinky.

Made it to the finish line, though! 4:46:53 I was shivering for an hour and a half, couldn't really move my hands and couldn't move my legs. Thank goodness Megan was there at the finish line with a fresh, dry set of threads. I couldn't have made it out of there without Megan's help. Thank you so much, sweetie!

But man, after all that, I had the strongest craving for RED MEAT. Seriously, this is from someone who is normally kinda grossed out by ground beef. Megan thinks its some paleo instinct that kicked in at Mile 20. My body thought I was chasing down a wildebeest and demanded some sustenance.

Naturally, our first stop for lunch was the local pub, where I ordered the cottage pie. A hearty casserole of beef, gravy, mixed vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. Washed down with a nice Guinness. Aaaah.

So, yeah, the next step is getting a tattoo to mark the achievement. It'll be a big, helvetica bold 26.2 and OKC 2011 5 1 below it. When I do another marathon, I'll add another city and date underneath it as a continuing reminder of these epic days.

And yes, I'm totally doing this again. (Just let me take a nap first.)