Time Dilation?

“Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” -Leonardo Da Vinci

Time seems to fly by just when you want it to stand still. With Damie’s upcoming departure for Corinth, she undoubtedly wanted time to slow down a little. Just a few more days without work and studying, a few more bike rides in the bright winter sunlight, a few more weeknights to stay home with Dave. Surely those last few days went by the fastest. They did for me. Before I knew it, she was heading off to her 5-week home-away-from-home, leaving us to do our Tuesday night track workouts, Bosco’s shooters, early morning swims (ok, not me), and Friday afternoon rides, Damie-less. Why won’t time stand still when you want it to, and let you enjoy it just a little longer?

It makes me think of fartlek runs (and yes, I can relate anything to running). This is the way to make a run go by in warp speed. You do a hard interval for, say, a minute, and then run easy for another 4 minutes or so. While the hard minute seems eternal, the rest period goes much faster. Wait, have I just found a practical example of Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity? Hmmm, not quite, since the perspective of the “observer” and the “clock” is the same. But still, there is such a thing as time dilation, which is occurs because “moving clocks tick slower than an observer’s ‘stationary’ clock.” Fascinating! So it IS true. Oh and wait, according to this theory, I’ll look smaller to the observer, too-- even better!

Isn’t time really how our minds perceive it? Remember when you were 5 years old and the trip to Disneyland seemed forever away? It’s fascinating watching a child learn what “tomorrow” or “yesterday” means. I remember my sister Megan, when she was about 3, asking if “tomorrow” was “after we go to sleep and wake up.” I’ve just recently been watching my niece Emily, who is 5, and her thought processes about time. Jenny teaches her time by telling her “when the clock says 8-oh-oh, it’s time for your bath,” or “when the big hand is on the 12….”

Does time ever pass too slowly as an adult? I suppose if it’s something I’m really looking forward to, maybe. But these days (it must be my age), weeks and months pass with a blink of the eye. I rarely feel like I’m wasting time, and I’m NEVER bored. There’s always something to entertain me, something I should be working on, or training for an upcoming race I could be doing. Even when my Sunday afternoon consists of dozing on the couch with a good book in one hand and the TV remote in the other, I don’t feel that time is wasted. I love the quote by T.S. Elliot, “Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.” This week, I’m living by that line and enjoying all of my time, no matter how quickly or slowly it passes me by.