I considered getting a couple shots, but one photo is a whopping $21.

TWENTY-ONE DOLLARS FOR A PHOTO. I don�t think so.

In exchange for wearing a local running store�s logo on my jersey, they took free photos of me on the course. After seeing that the other photographers are charging $21 a shot, it was well worth it for the corporate sell-out logo-baring I did.

I also have a couple shots from friends, including this one from soon after I finished:

Does it look like I just finished running* 26.2 miles to you? Me neither. It�s ridiculous how endorphins kick in and make you not hurt for a while.

Note that I said �for a while.� That night I cried from the pain in my knee. Monday I kept it wrapped in enough ice that my knee felt like it was in Siberia, limping whenever I did have to get up (only to pee). Tuesday morning I had a slight limp, but now I�m back to wearing heels as if nothing ever happened.

I of course took off work on Monday, knowing that I was going to be hating life. Benito knew I�d want food and company, so he also took the day off. Dear, sweet man. I was far from hating life when he got me Subway and a giant Diet Coke mid-day, snuggled with me during several heavy naps, plopped me onto the couch for a Netflix movie, ordered sushi for dinner, and then tucked me into bed. It certainly made getting up the next day to go to work (in flat shoes, of course) much easier since I was no longer tired or hungry.

In the words of Salt N Pepa, he�s �a mighty good man.�

Next year when he�s running in the significantly colder weather (the 2006 Chicago marathon is on October 22nd), I�ll chase him around the city with signs, my camera, and warm things, and I�ll also take the next day off to rub his feet and tell him he�s way prettier than he feels.

Oddly enough, yesterday I had the hankering to get back to working out. Who knows what�s up with my overachiever body, but I forced myself to sit down and watch a DVD instead. I screamed three times during The Signs. My heart got a bit of a workout from the scariness here and there.

Oh yes. I forgot about the * from above. I wanted to note for the record that I ran the entire friggin� marathon. There was no walking except through the slippery water stations where people dumped their Gatorade out and I would have slipped and broken my legs if I continued running through them.

Halfway through I realized that I was never going to run a marathon again and that I had might as well make it a super woman achievement and run the whole dang thing. In all honesty, it really wasn�t that hard. I by no means went fast, but I certainly went.

Oddly enough, my 8k time at marathon pace was faster than the very first race I ran this season, when I could barely run 2.25 miles without coughing and wheezing. Go me for so much improvement!

And to finish off my running talk for a good, long while, I�m now focusing on shorter races. Lucky for those of you who bore of running talk, there aren�t many races again until next Spring.

So, now what�s going on? I know I�ve mentioned it already, but November is National Novel Writing Month.

I�m reading a book right now on how to write and then later sell a romance novel, and I�ve got a good start to thinking about the 50,000 words I�m writing in 30 days. The book�s helped a bit, and I�ve made some changes to the story in my head already. So far so good.

If you�re writing something for NaNoWriMo also, I�ll gladly exchange books at the end. If you aren�t writing for NaNo, I�m hesitant to send you the piece of crap I�ll crank out in 30 days. If you aren�t also writing furiously, I don�t think you�ll fully understand just how crappy my book will be in that first pass. It�ll be embarrassing, I swear. I�m already exchanging with Miss Pink Kate, and another person I read is posting her novel online for the entire world to see.

It�ll be interesting to see how November and my story go. This morning on IM I named the main character Olivia and her husband Richard. I need a name her for doctor-turned-lover. Leave any suggestions (first and last name, please) in my guestbook. Shoot -- maybe I�ll name the character after you!

Okay, it�s time to head home. I�m off to Benito�s tonight, so I need to pack up. Hope everyone has a good night!�