Big Surprise

I got one hell of a surprise today. I finished the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon in under four hours. I started the race thinking I'd make 4:20 if I was lucky. So, I'm a very happy boy. A very sore, very happy boy.

This is me waving to my lovely wife and telling her that I love her. I'm about to enter the Maw of Pain. Here, at mile eighteen , the course goes up, and then it goes up some more, and after that, you guessed it, up.

Here I am finishing. My wife caught the classic finishers shot, notice the clock in featured prominently in the picture. You're just going to have to trust me that it doesn't read 13:54.

The guy on my right is Brian. He finished with me. We started running together around mile fifteen, or so. He was a big help getting through some of the hills.

He would always stop at the water stations, and I didn't. Yet, he would always catch right up with me. gives me the sneaking suspicion that he could have left me behind whenever he wanted to. Thanks for sticking around Brian.