Faster Than a Locomotive!

Faster than a locomotive!

That’s what I was today. No, really, I was! And the locomotive was even moving.

I took a walk at lunch, just a two mile leg-stretcher get-the-blood-flowing kind of thing. I walked down to the Robert E. Lee Bridge, and on the way back, I noticed a huge locomotive towing coal from the mountains to the sea. It was chugging along, moving in the same direction as I was. Suddenly I noticed that I was keeping up with it, walking at a slightly slower than normal pace. No, wait – could it be? I was creeping ahead of it! I picked up my pace to close to my normal race walking pace and clearly, I was gaining on it. After about a quarter mile, when I had to turn uphill to get back to work, I had gained about 200 feet on it. So at least today, at about 1PM, along the James River in Richmond, Virginia, I was faster than a moving locomotive. It went about a quarter mile (1,360 feet) and I went about 1,560 feet in the exact same amount of time. Never had that happen before!

It got me thinking about how I would fare in other contests with locomotives, and I think I would stack-up pretty well.

Faster (today) – Art
Faster to get from Richmond to Hampton Roads – Locomotive
Faster without tracks to ride on – Art
Faster to get from Richmond to Hampton Roads without tracks to ride on – Art
Longer time before wearing out a pair of running shoes - Art
Uses less energy to travel a mile – Art (about 100 kcal)
Carries more cargo for a mile – Locomotive
Looks better in a purple Team in Training race shirt – Art
Can jump higher – Art (not by much, though)
Faster to get up a mountain trail – Art
Raises more money to combat cancer – Art
Goes further on a single tank of fuel – Locomotive
Faster to cross a steam without a very strong bridge – Art

Art 10, Locomotive 3

I think for my next race, instead of just writing Art on the front of my purple shirt, I will write “Locomotive Art”. But that is kind of long, so I will probably shorten it, so that it fits across the front of my shirt, to “Loco Art” . Somehow, that seems appropriate, don’t you think?