#9: HOUSE TO GROUSE RUN
This issue:1) Ultra run 2) What’s a smoot 3) Escape from Danger Bay (Also enews links & Subscribe)
1) ULTRA RUN (HOUSE TO GROUSE)
Total Distance covered =
21.4 KILOMETERS, or
13.3 MILES, or
12,597 SMOOTS!
*What are “SMOOTS” you ask? You will find out below…
WHAT’S A SMOOT?:
Back in October 1958 students at M.I.T. hatched an absurd plan to measure the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge from Boston to Cambridge in units based on “the length of the shortest person in their group who ALSO had the most scientific name” Oliver Smoot was 5’7” and “Smoot” does sound scientific…
At first Oliver was getting up to advance to the last line drawn but after they found it was too slow having him get up and down, the group took to lifting and placing him each time the draw lines (apparently they moved him almost 364.4 times too).
The smoot marks were almost forgotten until the next years pledge class of sophomores were told to repaint the Smoot marks. It turns out each subsequent year kept carrying on the tradition.
Smoot graduated MIT in 1962 and didn’t give much thought to their “smoot marks” – little did he know they were becoming more legitimate over time. Eventually the police started referring to smoot marks in their reports when referring to incidents that occurred. This was becoming a bit of a standard…
And weirder still…. Once new paving was to take place, instead of doing the crack lines at 6 foot, the cement crew apparently ALSO echoed the smoot lines at 5’7”
The legacy continues now too since in Google earth maps you can calculate the distance of your local trip from your house to the grocery store in Smoots. Cool!
The most ironic thing is that Oliver Smoot became a decorated professional in the standards industry as the Vice President of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) that devised an array of standardized measurements… It is pretty cool that he was, in fact, one himself.
William’s trip running from his house in Vancouver to the top of Grouse Mountain May be only 21.4 km (13.3 miles), but sounds way better as “12,597 smoots” (plus or minus an ear).
3) ESCAPE FROM DANGER BAY:
They are moving fast!
CARNAGE CORNER!
The Ladies race just as hard
Less Success at Carnage Corner
Broken Wrist!
Call the Meat Wagon, scrape the meat off the road, and lets get back to racing (a quote)!
The racer came from Sweden!
Super Serious Stache
Great stickers!
You...
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Hoping to make it up to Vancouver for an adventure with William at some point! We met at the Yin Yang Square in China after completing the Great Wall Marathon – an adventure for any enthusiast to aspire to!
It’s always a treat meeting new and interesting people while adventuring around the world – I look forward to many more!
Adventure on!
Hey how lovely to see your comment. Wishing you the best with your US marathons AND all the other exotic ones you have planned around the planet! Adventure on indeed! xo