Spring ahead!

I'm all for a good essay and support the power of words, but there are some words that have had undo effect on the history of the world, which sometimes includes my personal microcosm.  Take the wry written admonishment of that venerable sage Benjamin Franklin as a primary example.  In his essay An Economical Project, Essay on Daylight Saving, published April 26th, 1784, Ole Ben gently chided his languid French friends for their inability to see the sun before noon on many days.  He suggested somewhat slyly that if only the clock were changed for all, that the more indolent would not be sleeping until midday, simply by redefinition. There is a good reason why the man was considered a genius!

What began as quip garnered serious consideration when Franklin began calculating potential savings in lamp oil and candle wax if only there were just one additional hour of daylight.  The idea floated around for more than a century until put into effect by Germany and Austria at 11:00 p.m. on April 30th, 1916.  Not to be outdone by the enemy, the U.S. Congress followed suit on March 19th, 1918, which begs the question, *WHO* actually won that war, anyway?? A few congressional vacillations later, and the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established daylight savings time as a permanent annual annoyance.

So what do I think of Daylight Savings Time, and what does that have to do with running?  Ralph Schlegelmilch sums my view succinctly in this comment he published as a Letter to the Editor of AnnArbor.com:

When told of the reason for Daylight Saving Time, the old Indian said, "Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it on the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”  ~citizen comment in annarbor.com

Beautiful!  I couldn't agree more!  I must add that since I'm given no choice other than to endure marching to the same beat as everyone else who has had their cellphone automatically reset to the "saved" lost hour, I have been able to take significant advantage of this idiocy from time to time.  Once I argued the deadline of a proposal that was due in Eastern Standard Time, and turned in on time even though the clock (on daylight time) recorded the delivery of the document an hour late.  (Proposal accepted. Please don't press your luck using this technique twice, however....)  And now I'm taking advantage of it again.  I'm scheduled to run the Indianapolis Half Marathon on May 5th, and finding myself behind my training schedule... ... until today!

Yes, there's a spring in my step... training time is finally in full stride as I'm able to get out after work and run while the sun is still shining! I've got some catch-up to do, and today I begin dutifully recording my progress, which hopefully will be substantial given all the time the world is now saving.


3/12/12 - 2.1 miles | 24 min | 5.1 mph | 228 kcal