Numbers
I've always liked playing with numbers.
In college I worked in the school post office keeping the accounts straight for postage, etc. Pre-algebra was my favorite math class. Anything beyond that I hated. I wanted to be an architect back in high school. But that became a little too detail-oriented for me. (Which is also ironic, seeing as I was once an editor, which is highly detailed. As time goes by I get less and less picky about some details.)
*- at this point I bet my husband is already laughing while reading this. Right honey? -*
Why would he be laughing you might ask? I am the one who uses my fingers to count anything higher than 9 + 4. I'm the one who has made a number of errors in balancing our checkbook. I send the kids to Dad with all math questions.
But I still like to play with numbers. Especially when I run. It takes me such a long time to figure certain equations out that it helps the miles go by. What my dear smart husband could do in a few seconds probably takes me a few minutes. Maybe because I can't use my fingers to count while I am running. Today I was trying to add up my mile splits as I ran. My workout was to be 5 miles. Due to weather (beautiful sunshine!) and timing (mid-afternoon) and children needing to be picked up I decided just to run the mile loop around our neighborhood five times. My splits were as follows: 9:33, 8:53; 9:05; 8:37; 8:56. As I ran I tried to add them together. Which kept my mind occupied and my feet moving.
Math. It's a wonderful tool.
In college I worked in the school post office keeping the accounts straight for postage, etc. Pre-algebra was my favorite math class. Anything beyond that I hated. I wanted to be an architect back in high school. But that became a little too detail-oriented for me. (Which is also ironic, seeing as I was once an editor, which is highly detailed. As time goes by I get less and less picky about some details.)
*- at this point I bet my husband is already laughing while reading this. Right honey? -*
Why would he be laughing you might ask? I am the one who uses my fingers to count anything higher than 9 + 4. I'm the one who has made a number of errors in balancing our checkbook. I send the kids to Dad with all math questions.
But I still like to play with numbers. Especially when I run. It takes me such a long time to figure certain equations out that it helps the miles go by. What my dear smart husband could do in a few seconds probably takes me a few minutes. Maybe because I can't use my fingers to count while I am running. Today I was trying to add up my mile splits as I ran. My workout was to be 5 miles. Due to weather (beautiful sunshine!) and timing (mid-afternoon) and children needing to be picked up I decided just to run the mile loop around our neighborhood five times. My splits were as follows: 9:33, 8:53; 9:05; 8:37; 8:56. As I ran I tried to add them together. Which kept my mind occupied and my feet moving.
Math. It's a wonderful tool.
What if you just rounded all the numbers off? 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 50. Close enough?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I do when I can't fall asleep. Puts me out in seconds! Forget counting sheep, try long division. And I actually like math...
ReplyDeleteAnd then there is the converting 8 and a half minute miles from 8.5 to actual 8 minutes 30 seconds...runners math.
ReplyDeleteoh yes! That takes a good mile at least.
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