Year-to-date Big Long Thing #43 The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee. A notoriously hilly marathon (about twice as hilly as the Jerusalem Marathon) in the Percy Warner Park which is known to be inhabited by a rare breed of flying monkey who feasts upon the blood, sweat, and tears of participants. In order to save myself from an awful fate I adopted camouflage, a flying monkey costume, and resorted to monkey calls (mostly The Beastie Boys’ “Brass Monkey” and The Foo Fighters “Monkey Wrench”) this had its own perils (photo ops, a full body monkey suit is surprisingly hot despite the cool weather and quite chafe-inducing) but I am pleased to report no monkey attacks and I was able to stumble to the finish and drag my monkey carcass over the line. I hope someone got that on video for my own amusement if nothing else. Fun fact: Maxwell House Coffee was originally named for and only sold at the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville. Their “good to the last drop” slogan is purported to have been originally uttered by President Theodore Rosevelt.
