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Home » Culture and Criticism

America runs on Dunkin

Submitted by on November 2, 2008 – 11:52 AM12 Comments

Literally.   I live right on the marathon course, which is cool, mostly, except for the band set up on the corner, whose “music” is echoing off the surrounding buildings and leaving me no part of the apartment in which I can concentrate.

Still, it’s pretty fun to watch everyone streaming by…for right now.   My apartment is around mile 6 or 7, and in an hour so, I’ll start seeing the runners who didn’t think this through and already look seriously cashed.   But along with the para-thoners shooting by in their race chairs first thing in the morning, this is the best part, because this is the time the people running in costumes tend to pass, and some dude wearing a Dunkin Donuts coffe-cup rig just jogged past looking like he wasn’t even short of breath.     LOVE that.

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12 Comments »

  • Academic says:

    Hmmmm…. Is a Tomato-thon in the works?

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    No.

  • Jena says:

    I used to live on the Boston Marathon route, and though it would FUBAR any attempt to get around Commonwealth Ave it was always an amazing site. I still remember the giant bumble-bee and all the cracked out wigs people wore. Aww, memories…

  • tulip says:

    “Hmmmm…. Is a Tomato-thon in the works?”
    “No.”

    I laughed out loud when I saw this exchange! I can just see the “Sars patented eyebrow raise” when she typed that. hee!

  • Academic says:

    Dancing around the Rockefeller Center is MUCH more your style. I’m not a runner either, but couldn’t resist the question.

  • Krissa says:

    I’m not a runner, either – but if there were to be, maybe a RELAY tomato-thon – 5 goobs in tomato suits, running for much shorter lengths – I would totally sign up to be one of those goobs.
    And then at the finish line, we’d look like the most one-note Fruit of the Loom troup, ever.

  • Kim W. says:

    I live about three blocks from the high school that for the past 20 years has been sending its band out to play the theme to “Rocky” on a continuous loop as the runners charge by. I went to the block to watch, and it was unexpectedly adorable — everyone cheering for the parathoners, all the huge grins and waves on the runners, a couple people running in costume (one guy was dressed as A LIGHTHOUSE, seriously), and this one adorable French guy who gaped in awe as he ran past the masonic temple on the block, and actually circled back and got out his camera to take a picture.

    I also somehow happened to be standing right at the unofficial “place to dump your gloves or shirts or whatever that you don’t care about carrying with you and you want to take it off” dumping spot. Within a single half hour, runners threw three pairs of gloves at my feet, and a guy from Chile even threw his shirt at me. I wasn’t really sure what else to do, so I moved everything as much out of the way as possible (and, um, I may have taken something home as well).

  • Allyson says:

    I was a medical volunteer right before the finish line (our job was to help anyone who couldn’t make it to the end) and I saw both the Dunkin Donuts guy (who was still making it pretty easily) AND (as one of the very last people) the lighthouse guy. It was my first time seeing the marathon for reals and it was so cool. I loved the spectators cheering on complete strangers.

  • RJ says:

    No Tomato-thon? How much would we have to raise on Donors Choose to get Sars to run the Marathon (and how much more to run it in a tomato suit)?

    HEE.

    Kidding of course. But I hope to run the ING NY Marathon in 2 years or so (it’ll take that long to train, prep & qualify, at least)… I’d wear a tomato t-shirt, if not a suit.

  • Jacq says:

    Those guys who run in costume = awesome. I did a marathon this year. It’s really, REALLY hard. Doing it in costume would be pure mental behaviour, in my opinion.

  • Gillian says:

    Shizzle, I was just across from your corner (in front of the ol’ Hess) and wondered if you were home. I suspect your window was an awesome vantage point for cheering. I spent 2 1/2 hours out there and I think my voice just came back this afternoon. I love the marathon.

  • brickton says:

    Am I the only one who is kind of annoyed by the three icon picto-slogan? Not that Dunkin’ brands is using it but that they didn’t take it one step further to put the first two icons on top of the third, so that positionally it would look like

    (AMERICA) (RUNS)
    ———————-
    (DUNKIN)

    This is what I think about while having my morning coffee.

    Just me?

    Okay then.

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