Pi-Mile

In my BooksFirst post this month, I made fun of so-called "stunt journalists" that do things that they otherwise wouldn't just so they can write about the experience. I have to confess that I am a stunt blogger. I frequently pick activities based on their blogworthiness. I'm in Atlanta this weekend for Family Weekend. While the ostensible purpose of the trip is to see our son, who is showing a severe lack of homesickness in every way, I'm going to be able to squeeze several blogposts out of the trip, including this one.

While out of town, I try to vary my exercise routine to match what is available. The GT Hotel and Conference Center where we are staying so as to be within walking distance of all the activities, has a decent workout room, but the weather is too nice to stay inside.



In 2007 I blogged about Pi Day which is March 14th every year. I mentioned in that post that Georgia Tech sponsors a 5K race every year called the Pi-Miler because it is 3.14 miles in length. They have made it a year round activity with the creation of the Larry Brown Pi Mile Running Trail. The sheer geekiness of concept is just genius.

The trail is really just a route along existing sidewalks that goes around the campus and passes nearly all the major attractions including Bobby Dowd Stadium (at Historic Grant Field), the Tech Tower, the Student Center, the Campus Recreation Center (which was built around the 1996 Olympic Aquatic Center) and Alexander Memorial Coliseum (aka the ThrillerDome aka The Tit).

It seemed like a perfect route for a morning jog. This summer I started jogging some mornings and have built up to about a mile at a time. Over three miles just seemed to much to even imagine. But what a cool blogpost it would make. At first, my goal was just to get as far as I could without walking. By the time I had gone from Fifth and Techwood to the CRC, I realized I was over halfway there.

So I decided to see if I could make the whole circuit. Even when my iPod locked up, I resisted the temptation to stop and rest. The Fates were tempting me, but I refused to give in. The course makes it easy to set smaller goals along the way. There are sidewalk markers every quarter mile in addition to the arrow imbeds to make sure you take the correct turns. All you have to do is press on another quarter mile thirteen times in a row. By the time I reached the north end of Ferst Street in the shadow of Ted Turner's empire, I knew I could make.

I passed tailgaters setting up for the game and high school bands unloading for their part of the halftime show. And them I got back to Fifth Street and had just one uphill block to go. I poured out my remaining energy and tagged the sign where I had started and gasped in triumph.

It took me about forty minutes to make the full circuit, which is hardly a marathon ready pace. But I had never run more than a mile and a half at once before. And what kept me going was the thought of how lame it would be to blog that I had to stop and rest. By making it a continuous run, the stunt had become blogworthy. I had run 3.14 miles just so I could brag about it on the internet.

So who says that blogging can't be good for your health?

BlatantCommentWhoring™: What have you done just to have something to blog about?