Random Snippets of Great Interest (at least, to me).

A few very cool points of Boston Marathon interest I never knew about:

Photo courtesy of WickedLocal.

• 2009 was the 5th (close to) simultaneous running of the "Boston Marathon in Iraq". Hundreds of our service men and women compete with official bib numbers, finisher’s medals and certificates, and of course olive wreaths and trophies for the winners -- all supplied as part of an official care package from the BAA and several BAA sponsors. Air Force Maj. Harland Peelle took top prize this past year. Here's to hoping that soon our soldiers will be home and can run it here, with us.
• 2010 marks the 2500th anniversary of the original marathon run made by Pheppiddes between Marathon and Athens. (Actually, the real anniversary is in 2011, but everyone is using 2010 so just go with it...) Having a 2500th anniversary is rather a big deal, don't you think?
• Hopkinton, MA (my hometown and the start of the Boston Marathon, though not necessarily in that order for most people) is a sister city to Marathon Greece. In 2008 the town was presented by the city of Marathon with The Eternal Flame of the Marathon, which now permanently resides in Hopkinton (safely beside the police station, where my childhood friend-now-OFFICER Janie Rathburn can keep a close eye on it). The town is committed to continuing to honor the relationship and the flame through various programs designed to instill a love of athletics and learning in town youngsters. Toward that end, last month Hopkinton kicked off the first in a year-long series of events commemorating the origin of the sport of marathoning with a town-wide reading marathon for all ages: 26 books or 26 reading hours. Author and marathon historian Nick Tsiotos was there to celebrate and launch the event, saying "I am especially happy to come to Hopkinton for the kick-off of this reading program because I think that, if Boston is the Athens of America, then it is clear that Hopkinton is the Marathon, Greece, of America." 

You may have found this to be C.U.I. (completely useless information), but I hope you didn't. I hope you found it even a little bit as interesting a trio of esoterica as I did.