I pulled my first all-nighter in a couple years on saturday, and had a interesting discussion. It revolved about whether it was better to sleep for an hour and wake up, or just stay up and crash the next day? My inclination was to stay up, and then worry about it tomorrow, while my date said it would be better to sleep for an hour, because your body will have at least that hour to sleep. It ended up that the reason that I wanted to stay up was not that I wanted to stay awake...I really did want to sleep. But because I had to do the Bike the Drive Event at 5:30am, I was worried that I would sleep through my alarm/phone calls, etc, etc...

But there is something about staying up all night...pushing your body and your mind to it's fullest potential...I've always felt this need to push and see what my body or mind can do. I'm sure all of us have that to some extent. So when given the choice between sleeping an hour and not sleeping? I pick not sleeping...When given the choice between the 15 mile bike the drive and the 30 mile bike the drive? 30 miles of course. Nevermind that I hadn't ridden a bike in nearly 3 weeks, and it's at 5:30 in the morning...But at the very least, I can see whether I can do it. Isn't this the reason people do marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons and those endurance races? To see how far they can push their bodies, while it is still available to them? I know I'm not going to be able pull a ultra-marathon when I'm 80 (if I live that long, given my love for french fries. ) Maybe I'm a freak in that way, but tell me something I don't know.