It was totally fun!

Cold and clear.

Just after mile two, the pack entered the uphill ramp of the I-90 express lanes. The pace ground to halt. Looking around, I saw a bunch of people barely moving while they put on their headphones. What the hell? Maybe they were like, "Whoa, a hill. Well, here we go."

Some people can't play in a group. One woman, on three occasions (that I witnessed), collided with or tripped runners while she dashed for a water stop or Honey Bucket.

Loved the water stops. Grab a cup, drink, toss.

Witnessed only one irate non-runner on the wrong end of a street closure in Madison Park. Standing in front of her BMW SUV, she wailed, "This is wrong! These roads are for the public." The woman in front of me replied, "We are the public!"

I loved listening to runners' conversations. Predictably, women tended to talk about social issues while men discussed business.

And I loved the people with boomboxes playing upbeat pop music. One very fancy brick house in Madison Park channeled Cher through open windows. Do you beleeeve in life after love?

For my part, I held up pretty well. I figured out early on that the way to avoid getting sucked into the starting sprint is to draft short, slow people. After a mile or so, you find your own pace. I felt awesome until about mile eight, and then it got a little achy. I'd say mile 10 to mile 11 was the most difficult stretch. But then I saw Angela and Gerome (who shot the video), and Pam a little ways up from them. It was exciting to see my friends. After that, I picked it up and sprinted toward the finish. I probably could've run the whole thing faster, than I did—my heart rate felt low the entire time—but I'd never run so far and wanted to play it safe. I had a lot of energy at the end; the limiter is structural aches and pains. Additional training will alleviate that.

A month ago or so, I bought a French bra-and-panty set as my reward for doing the run. I gave it to Andrew to keep out of my reach. This afternoon he brought over the little box, and here I sit in cranberry-colored lace.