Friday, September 08, 2006

More posts about running and science


Yes, that's right: my post's title is yet another spoof of the title of the Talking Heads' second album (it is a very commonly spoofed album title because it's one of the best album titles ever) and there's nothing you can do about it.

But what I really have to say is this: lately I've been doing my speedwork at the Lincoln High School track in San José. This track seems to be something of a hangout for young neighborhood kids, and a venue for their pick-up soccer games. It's thus a hangout for their parents also, who mostly walk very slow laps around the track in lane 1, talking on cell phones and pushing baby carriages.

Last time I ran there I was proudly wearing my bright yellow team shirt from the race. As I was about to start one of my intervals a young girl in the bleachers shouted to me, "Hey, are you really a scientist?" Even though I'm an engineer I answered in the affirmative. Based on the reaction of the other kids it sounded like she'd just lost a bet. Then she asked me if I was running for a science experiment. I should have said yes to that, too. It would have been more fun. But my legs weren't having any fun, so they didn't want my brain having any either.

The end.

4 comments:

Kevin said...

Why do scientists get such a bad rap when it comes to physical ability? It almost pisses me off!!! We can be athletic, too. Why is it so hard for people to realize this?

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

Hehe, too many Revenge of the Nerds movies perhaps? :-) Hmmm, I think someone should conduct a study of scientists and whether or not they are more or less "athletic" than the general population, at least once you get beyond the high school and college years...

Oh and Al, I was trying to remember the actual name of that Talking Heads album and itunes conveniently randomly leaped to a song from it (I apparently forget I even had it :-)).

a.maria said...

sweet. you should take bunson burners and petri dishes out there next time. it'd make those kids' day!

Al Dimond said...

This is a great workout idea... run an interval, drink some water out of an Erlenmeyer flask, mix some chemicals that bubble up, run another interval, drink some more water out of the Erlenmeyer flask, crash physics carts into eachother on hills, run another interval, drink some more water out of the Erlenmeyer flask, write a quick computer program to analyze my data...