I’ve been posting regularly to therunnereclectic.com for four years, now, and to my great surprise, the most popular post I’ve ever written, by far, has been the one about track dimensions. I guess a lot of people really want to find out more about the geometry and dimensions of running tracks, and for some reason, when someone searches for “Track Dimensions,” my post is on the first page of Google results.
I’ve felt guilty about that, because I wrote that post (back in 2014!) in a hurry, and it was glib and superficial and didn’t offer a whole lot of information. For years I’ve been meaning to go back and rewrite the damn thing.
Well, I’ve finally done it. The updated post is about three times as long, goes into much greater detail, and touches on math, culture, history, and many other things. Plus, it has more pictures. I don’t know if budding track fans will like it any better, but — as one of the few people who worry about wasting other people’s time on the Internet — at least now my conscience is clear.
In lieu of a new post this week, I invite you to read the new, improved, expanded version of “Know Your Oval: Fun Facts About Tracks.”
