It was watching the summer Olympics that inspired my friend Chris to say that he could run one minute at an all-out sprint. I can't remember how the conversation started, but I do know the Greece Olympics was on TV, and I took the position that a minute would seem like a really, really long time while trying to run at an all-out sprint. And we're not talking just a fast run, we're talking about a run like the Millennium Falcon trying to outrun the Death Star exploding from its core after they blasted the power coupling (or was it the reactor?) in Return of the Jedi.So we went to a rarely used half-mile stretch of asphalt behind our house, and I kept watch on my Chevy Cavalier's speedometer to ensure that Chris wasn't slowing down while another roommate called out time with his head sticking out the backseat window. The guy running the timer and I made a side bet: I put a 6-pack on the line that Chris would be able to sprint for at least 20 seconds.
To Chris's credit, he was hauling ass. I was really impressed with the speed of this guy--granted my Chevy Cavalier's speedometer wasn't very reliable, but Chris clocked between 25 and 14 miles per hour. Sadly, Chris couldn't run for the full minute, and I also lost my 20 second side bet. But Chris still contends that if he'd known I'd made a 20 second side bet, he could have sprinted full-on for at least that long.
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