More Caramels

Still got caramels bouncing around in my head. The combination of running and caramels leads to interesting things, and dredges up memories of Marathon bars. These things were basically long thin braids of caramel with a chocolate coating, and the premise of them was that it took forever to eat one. And it did, and even after you finished one you’d be picking bits of it out of your teeth for several hours afterward. Marathon bars were aptly named, as this relatively short-lived candy treat came out right around the time of the first running craze (if you don’t know when that was, then go rent Forrest Gump). There was also a marketing campaign that is still imprinted upon some dark recess of my brain (and, apparently, on the internet) that ran endlessly on the daytime reruns of The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie and the like. It featured Marathon John (played by Patrick Wayne, aka John Wayne fils) a white-hatted cowboy who would outwit his black-hatted adversaries by getting them to set aside whatever they were doing as they became totally engrossed with the Marathon bar.

I can relate.

Long and slow today, as promised. Ran the same route as I ran on Tuesday, with a little extra tacked on to make it an even 12. The morning was humid and overcast. Squirrels were scampering about doing their usual squirrelly things, but with a little more respect today. And while it was the same route, replacing Dave Alvin with Fela Kuti on the iPod made it a totally different run. Kuti is known as the Nigerian Bob Marley, not because their music is similar but because of how the music is firmly embedded with in-your-face politics. The music consists of intense, improvisational jazz jams that go on so long I just lose myself. Six songs got me around the whole loop.

Speaking of music, XPN is playing the results of their 885 All-time Greatest Artists poll. Readers vote their top ten and then this gets compiled. I didn’t vote but figure I should come up with a top ten. A good activity to do on tomorrow morning’s run. If I follow through I’ll post the list here.

My running peeps are just spouting wisdom right and left lately. From Ian:

When naming a team, I think it's a good idea to consider how uncomfortable we can make a Race Director reading the name, should we win. Remember when Senator Carper had to say "Evil Killer Bunnies of Doom" at Caesar Rodney? It was probably one of my proudest moments.

I can proudly say I ran on both incarnations of EKBOD, and remember Carper’s face well. Ian’s quote is part of a thread that becomes progressively more tasteless as it gets more highbrow, and is currently on the Philly Runners message board (go here, then click on “enter my forum” and on the “Eastern State Breakout 5k” thread).

Its been awhile since I’ve written a post that’s been this ADD. 12 miles in 96:14.

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Lights will shine and the moon will be bright,
Night will be day and day will be night.
Pain will be felt, sorrow will be seen.
I’m going to the Promised Land.

(Spanic Boys)