Run 44. The Time Warp (Again). 5/10/2019.
With daylight savings starting this weekend, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to run past a series of significant clocks that would all have to be adjusted tonight to reflect the start of daylight savings. But this decision set up two opposing issues – the first is that I identified 10 different clocks that I could visit on the run, that would cost me time. The second issue was the fact that I would run for longer in the CBD area which is known for its time warp ability to record super fast splits.
The first kilometer was uphill so I took it easy, then wamm – a 3 min 58 split and despite stopping for a couple of clock selfies, then I recorded a 3min 12 sec split for the 3rd kilometer. Gotta love the CBD for “fast” kilometers. I eventually had to leave the city and get back to real kilometers that are 1000m long. By then I had already visited 6 clocks (Royal Arcade, GPO, Melbourne Central, Town Hall, Flinders St Station and the clock at the Forum Theatre), so headed out towards the floral clock in the botanical gardens. Next on the list was the Nylex clock in Cremorne and then onto the Dimmeys clock on Swan St Richmond.
With 9 of the ten chosen clocks covered off I headed back home to Elwood. As I ran passed Elsternwick station I suddenly realised that I had parked there that morning and caught the train into the city. So I had to run around the block a bit to ensure I completed the full 21.1km.
Took one last non-selfie of my Garmin watch, 1:45:22 for the half marathon, somewhat aided by the early CBD splits.
My Three Learnings
The city CBD area contains time warp characteristics that enable 3 min kilometers.
There are a lot of big clocks in Melbourne.
The only clock that counts, when running, is the stopwatch.