In the description field when I was uploading the above logo I typed in the following:

“Thompson Lange runs step #2 in his ridiculously boneheaded quest to build his mileage for the Comrades Ultramarathon 56 mile run in 2009.”

And now there really isn’t much more to say ’cause that pretty much sums it up.  I finished today’s run about an hour and a half ago and now I’m just sitting around waiting for my ride.  I’m sitting on a kinda cold cement wall, which oddly seems to be very soothing on the ol’ muscles…even though this run was 31.5 miles, I’m less tired and sore than I was last week after running the Big Sur Half Marathon down in Monterey.

Of course, I don’t know if real runners would even say what I just did was “running.”  I kinda figured out that by leaning WAY forward I could do an odd shuffle that was less tiring than running OR walking.

The set-up for this particular run was interesting though.  They were offering an Ultra, a Marathon, an Ultra-relay, a Marathon-relay, a Half Marathon and a 20-mile Training run…all on a public trail that ran from north of Folsom to downtown Sacramento.

So basically, at no time did I ever know what distance anyone around me was aiming for…or even if they were running in the race.  Which meant I didn’t have to give a rat’s ass what distance anyone around me was aiming for and I could just concentrate on pacing myself and running MY OWN race. (And entertaining myself with my inner dialogue as they didn’t allow ipods.)

Yikes!

The run went well though like I said, I’m not tired.  BUT… it’s sad that I only bettered my time from September’s 50k by 49 minutes.  That might seem like a lot of time to shave, but click here to read why it’s kinda pathetic.  Considering there were no wasps or injuries this time, I shoulda done better.

But hey…I DID learn to shuffle and managed to run every stinkin’ mile of this thing.  So MAYBE 50 miles is doable.

We’ll see in January when I attempt that distance on Catalina Island as a pre-qualifier before spending all that money to go to South Africa with the possibility of failure.

Man, the things mid-life crisis’ make ya do.