Racing Against History

Any other stats geeks out there? Then you are going to love this.

The New York Times put together a video and info graphic comparing Usain Bolt against 116 years of Olympic sprinters in the 100 meter dash.

(watch it here)

In 1896, the first person to receive a gold medal in the 100-meter dash was Thomas Burke (USA) with a time of 12.0 seconds. In 1896 he was the fastest man in the world, today he would have finished 19.7 meters behind Bolt. Also, more Americans have won gold in this event than any other country, though in the last 20 years the Caribbean has begun to dominate.

Now check out this 100-meter freestyle comparison, which pins Nathan Adrian (my second boyfriend) against 116 years of Olympian medalist.

(video here)

The first 100-meter freestyle was won by Alfred Hajos (HUN) in 1896 in an open water swim in the Bay Of Zea. His time was 1:22.2 or 42.6 meters behind Nathan Adrian’s time. I wonder if Hajos would have done any better in a pool setting? It’s crazy to think that the fastest swimmer of today is almost twice as fast as the fastest swimmer of 116 years ago. According to the trend of records, swimmers should expect to break the 45 second barrier in another 14 or 16 years. Pretty cool how they can predict that.

On another note, the fastest runners and swimmers of 116 years ago could still kick my butt.

There wasn’t much in the fridge for lunch today. I had leftover chicken, an avocado, a peach, and that was pretty much it. What’s a girl to make for lunch? This. Apparently.

I didn’t get super creative, I just combined some of the chicken with the avocado (which wasn’t even that ripe) and threw in a few walnuts.

I ate the mix with some Triscuits and called it a meal.

Oh, I had the peach too.

It was a great peach. I love that they’re at peak season right now.

I had some errands to run this afternoon and took a Chocolate Brownie Gnu Bar to eat on the way.

One of those errands was to the grocery store, where I had a sample of the Publix Shrimp Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Apron’s Simple Meal. It was so good, I grabbed the recipe card and decided to make it for dinner.

The recipe was definitely easy enough (though I didn’t go the pre-sliced route on anything and left out the green pepper sauce)

I thought the meal came out pretty good. You really can’t go wrong with shrimp and bacon, especially when you throw in a bit of sweet with the peach.

A hunk of baguette on the side.

And dark chocolates for dessert.

I updated the Wedding Page today! Can you believe we only have 5 months to go? Craziness!

Also, can someone explain these indoor cycling speed races? I love cycling, but these races might be over my head. At least I still have some gymnastics to look forward to later.

Good NIght!