My flight back to LAX arrived about 15 minutes early last night, but we wound up waiting on the tarmac for 30 minutes for the gate to clear. Once we finally got there, my second mileage run was over. I felt less tired after this one than I did my first — I think that can be attributed to the fact that I slept more often on the flights this time, and that my total clock time was about three hours less on this run. My flight connections were tight in most cases, but I made them all, and had no significant issues.
I started thinking about why I find the idea of mileage running to be so amusing, and I think that there may be a link between it and other “pointless” exercises in computer and video games. To a lot of people, running around and constantly jumping to raise skill levels may seem dumb, but I find it hilarious for some reason. The act of flying around in circles, in order to make a future trip possible or cheaper, must touch the same nerve. My miles should post in a couple of days, and once that happens, I should be able to consider this trip completely done.