On Friday morning, after logging nine and a half miles the day before, I sprung out of bed, threw on my running shoes, and dashed out the door. I just broke the 20-mile marker, and I was determined to put The Challenge behind me…so I was going to finish the nine and a half miles to win the race.

Or so I thought.

Many thanks to Justin Timberlake, Incubus, Jamiroquai, Nelly Furtado, Michael Jackson, and many other musicians to helped me run the ten miles…but I fell short. Literally by less than an hour. As I ran home, I felt the excitement as I was to log the closing thirty miles, but when I plugged my iPod in, I noticed Sean Mclellen just completed the race. Darn it all!! 🙂 In all truth, I didn't mind losing to Sean because he was the one who pushed me every day to run a little faster and push a littler harder. We've never met, but when we do, I'm sure I'll be just as impressed with who he is as I am with his hard work and dedication.

So, while I'm bummed I didn't win, I'm quite happy knowing I ran 36 miles from last Monday to last Friday. I spent most of Friday and today celebrating by consuming whatever my eyes fell upon–Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal…sure, why not…Ben&Jerry's ice cream…make it a double scoop…Sprite…on the rocks, please. My stomach aches from all the sugar and no-no's I've eaten, but I'm rationalizing it by insisting it's helping cure the aches in my legs.

Because, literally, I'm such a sore loser.