iPalimpsest

"No more" is what I said crossing the finish. "Is that beer they're giving out, and is that instead of or in addition to Gatorade" came from Jenny. And then I said, "next year" and am so excited about NYC 2006.

Jenny might lose a toenail. It's never happened to either of us, so we're not sure of the pre-toenail-loss symptoms, but hers was throbbing, and bleeding from under the nail, and it seems to be detaching from the nailbed, around the edges.

We saw Barb on mile 6, and that was really energizing.

We were faster (4:18 net time) than our 2002 marathon time (4:31 net time), and it's the difference between averaging a 9:50 pace and a 10:30 pace, which is great.

Chicago was fantastic. There really was beer- twice. And drag queens, hardly any hills (though this also meant no downhills, which are really energizing, and it also means nice variety on the race, which we both kind of missed)and we ran pretty fast into the finish (2002 was more like a limp into the finish).

There's nothing like your first marathon, and we weren't sure we wanted another, but I'm really glad we went for it, and Chicago was a great city for it.