[Book Reviews] [Sociology] More on "out there"

[thewronghands]

I recently finished Frozen Ed Furtaw's "Tales From Out There: The Barkley Marathons, The World's Toughest Trail Race", and near the end there was a description of a sleep-deprived ultrarunner who had an experience that I howled my way through... I suspect that many folks who have similarly pushed their limits and experienced that state of "

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[rhiannonstone]

It's happened to me a few times, and the most hilarious-to-me and easy-to-tell was this one: I biked up a very challenging hill outside of Berkeley on a hot summer day, and did not drink enough water (and honestly probably shouldn't have done the ride at all because it was way outside my skill and fitness level at the time but fuck yeah I did it and I'm still proud). The ride back into Berkeley (it was a loop and not an out-and-back) was literally a 12-mile downhill and I have zero recollection of how I did that without dying because it's downhill but it's also twisty and busy. For some reason I passed home and rode another couple miles to the farmer's market, where (I found out later) I kept stumbling up to stalls dragging my bike behind me, pointing at things, and handing them my wallet to take the required cash out for payment. Someone made me sit in the shade and drink the juice fugue-me had had the sense to buy, and once I'd recovered a bit, I realized I'd bought about 10 pounds of fruit I didn't even like. After I'd had more juice and water I walked around giving the fruit away to people who looked like they needed it.

I have no recollection of buying that fruit. I only know about the stumbling-and-shoving-my-wallet-at-people thing because a market vendor who recognized me told me. It is both hilarious and terrifying. Hilarifying.