Friday, April 11: I have an alert listener in my audience. After speaking Wednesday night at the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center in York, Pennsylvania, I heard (via e-mail) from a nice man named Victor, who politely corrected me about my statement that an ancient Greek named Marathon ran a marathon distance to warn Athens of a pending attack.
Vic said it was a Greek soldier named Pheidippides (say that three times) who ran his heart out from the city of Marathon to Athens to warn the Athenians that Persian soldiers had set sail for Athens and were due to arrive any moment. According to legend, after delivering the message that would save the city, Pheidippides collapsed and died from the exertion of running a distance of 26 miles.
Maybe this Greek guy should have taken his Garden of Life supplements before he set out for Athens. (Sorry, a tasteless joke.) But thanks, Vic, for setting me straight.