Saturday, November 10, 2012

I Feel Stupid and Vindicated at the Same Time

Stupid because I never thought to use Google Earth to measure my favorite stretch of the Don Tyson Parkway, vidicated because I came within three quarters of a percent of the correct distance using only a bicycle, a tape measure, and a short piece of duct tape.

My original measurement was 1.355 miles which I elected to round down to 1 1/3 miles mainly for simplicity of calculation but also because I didn't want to overstate my running distances. I got 3550 feet each direction, about 1.345 miles per lap, using Google Earth's path measuring tool. I'm going with that for my official distances but can still use the handy 1 1/3 mile distance for managing my runs.

It astonished me sometimes to see how completely stupid I am. If it wasn't for my moments of startling brilliance, I'd probably get really down about it. As it is, I think I bungle my way through life fairly well, all things considered.

What a bonehead!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I'm really confused .... is google really right? Maybe their GPS is off ..... maybe you were righter than them! Does the earth expand and contract when it gets hot? Quack, Quack!

Dave Renfro said...

Maybe so, Rod, but I doubt it. Asking, "Is Google right?" is almost like asking, "Do you know for sure that this granite surface plate is flat."

Hi, Rod!

carl duewall said...

I got 3550 feet, about 1.345 miles, using Google Earth's path measuring tool.


Does this seem right?

Dave Renfro said...

Umm . . . No! That doesn't seem right at all. Someone who has not run more than a hundred laps back and forth on this stretch of the Don Tyson would probably not perform the 3550 feet x 2 = 7100 feet = about 1.345 miles math subconsciously as I did. I'm an idiot.

Entry edited. Thanks, Carl!