1 + 1 = 2
1 half tour + 1 half tour = a Full Tour. Right?
Nope.
There is nothing that makes you feel less intelligent and more screwy in your noggin’ than the math involved in calculating stadium sections. The more sections you do (starting from 37), the lower the number goes. Well, until you reach section 1 and then you start going up again. But do you count the 1 or not? Did you run section 1 once, or twice? Am I counting how many left or how many I already did? Is 37 to 27 ten sections? It has to be, right? But not?!? WTF! But I’m sure that RobotMan2 is the same as a Full Tour because it’s twice of a half-tour, and RobotMan3 is just a Full Tour plus 19…right?!?* And FrogMan1, that’s 50 sections so if we start at 37 which section do we turn around at? Is it the same if we run 37 to 1 and back to 13, as if we run 37 to 13 and back to 37? WAIT!!!
But what if we start at section 25? Then what? It’s so confuuuuuuuuusing.
Yup.
The stadium fucks with your mind. It’s not only really hard to climb up those big seats and down the small Crimson stairs, but your mind cannot really keep up with all the numbers. Unless your name is Ari, the rest of us just keep running and try to keep the little numbers in the Crimson square at the tippy top of that mountain of stairs from going blurry — if we remember to look up at all while we eat up those stairs for breakfast. So sometimes that means you can’t keep track of how many sections you really did. You just trust that you got to the “end” of the workout or whatever goal section you were aiming for.
Other times the stadium tricks you in the most twisted and generous way by confusing you into thinking you had to do two more sections because you got mind fucked while counting down sections and trying to account for the lowering number on the stairs while counting up in your “completed sections” number and you end up doing more than you were going to. More than you thought you could. More than you’ve ever done. More than you did last week…or whatever your standard of “possible” was. Sometimes, when you get out of your comfort zone and let a little of the confusion caused by Stadium Math to drive you forward–you open doors of possibility. Just take the dude Gary who drives pretty regularly the 2 hours from his house in CT to get his ass kicked by the stadium on Wed mornings. He was certain that he calculated the right number of sections to run (starting from 25 like we did today) to complete his very first Full Tour. He worked the numbers. He calculated the there-and-back and carried the 1…and proudly announced to me after the group photo that while he had done 38 sections, he’d be back next time to be able to do one more and complete the Full Tour.
Really Gary? I think you’re confused.
His Stadium Math had somehow led him to believe that from 37 to 1 is 39 sections, so even with his solid effort today he wass still just shy of his goal. Little did he know that he not only crushed a Full Tour, he had a “cherry on top” section to brag about too. He was pretty fucking pumped to get an F on that math test but an A in physical education today.
(That’s Gary with his new friend Lauren Smith, who visited the #mothership from her current NP tribe in DC. She and Gary happen to be from the exact same small town in CT.)
If running FrogMan1 today starting at 25, going to 1 and back to 25 freaked you out (we DIDN’T start at 37!) or confused you like crazy (how many sections did I doooooo??)…then GOOD! It’s important to get shaken up a little bit now and then. It’s helpful to remember that you don’t have to be exactly the same person running the stadium as you were last week or last PR day. Sometimes the change around you allows you to be different too–and that is exciting news.
Keep changing the world.
News this week:
My friends, Friday is #PRHills day so be ready to race. Lace up those shoes and #JustShowUp. Get out there and earn your PR dot on your #PRHat. What’s a PRHat??? It’s the hat you wear when you race Summit Ave and that you collect PR dots on. Duh.
Stadium Math pop quiz
*False and False. RobotMan2 is twice from 37 to 19, or 19 x 2 = 38. A Full Tour is 37.
RobotMan3 is 19 x 3 = 57 sections. But a Full Tour plus 19, 37 + 19 = 56.
How many did you do today? Record your score in the tracker!
