JANUARY 2005 - Back in Action

[Sweder]

Time of day: 07:50 Hrs
Location: South Downs - Lewes - Black Cap - Plumpton Colledge Loop
Distance: 8.2 miles
Duration: 01:23:18
Conditions: Clear, Sunny, Cold, Westerly breeze
Companions: Gypsy, Tess, Willow
Soundtrack: Planet Rock, The Rock Specialist

We're so sorry, Uncle Albert.
Albert Einstein, according to those in the know, wasted the second half of his life.
Early on he discovered that E=MC2, and a whole new and dangerous world opened up for mankind. Later, as the world of Physics looked for new and exciting theories, Einstein began a fruitless search for the Formula for All Things, the equivalent to E=MC2 that would explain all life as we know it.

Einstein's failure at this time was, apparently, a refusal to embrace the New Physics - Quantum Mechanics. He ended his days, wild-haired, silver mustacheod, administered by maids and nurses, producing reams of calculus in his bed. A sad end to a brilliant mind. The irony is, as Physicists embrace the String Theory as the likely source of the Formula for All Things, Quantum Mechanics, the New Science eschewed by Einstein, appears to be at the very heart of the answer to his final conundrum.

OK, what in blue blazes has this to do with me, or my run?
Well, without SP and his beloved Garmin I'm reduced to writing reams of calculus in an attempt to estimate my distance covered this morning. Oh, and all the above was on telly last night. Ahem.

Knowing that my house to Black Cap was 2.5 miles, I used my mobile phone/ stopwatch to record split times. It looks something like this

Home to Black Cap - 00:27:57 = 2.5 miles (uphill into wind)
Black Cap to Turn - 00:46:46 (less 27:57 = 19 minutes) (uphill into wind)
Total run time uphill into wind: 47 minutes
If time for 2.5 miles is 28 minutes this = 11.2 mins per mile
Therefore, 47 minutes at 11.2 min per mile = 4.1 miles

I didn't complete a maths exam in all my time at school and sixth form.
I loved English, English Lit and History but I abhored Maths - I couldn't see the point of all those numbers, all those equations. Until today.

For the record the return leg splits (downhill, wind assisted) were
Turn to Black Cap - 01:01:47 (15 minutes)
Black Cap to home - 01:23:18 (21 minutes)

Return run rate: 8.7 minute miles

I trust you're all as cheesed off with these equations as I am, so here's a bit of light hearted nonsense. I listened to Planet Rock on my portable DAB - note to self: perfect reception at all times up here! - and got the usual mixed bag: Queen, Bowie, Golden Earing, Deep Purple, The Eagles. But there was one song that sticks out, and it made me think about famous rock tracks with nonsensical lyrics. This particular tune makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, yet remains a favorite on rock and classic rock stations the world over.

Pop (Rock) Quiz: Name the song and the artist
Clue: It mentions in the lyric one of the finest candy bars of the 1970's - The Curly Wurly. Really, it does. Honest.

Thanks for watching, and, if you're spinning in your grave, I'm so sorry, Uncle Albert.