The Boob Tube Shows Shows

The harsh winter has kept the Nitmos clan inside much of the last few weeks. As such, I’ve added a little winter padding to my normally stretchy band chiseled torso. Also, it has allowed us time to sit uninterrupted in front of the boob tube and not feel guilty about it whatsoever. Normally, we sit uninterrupted in front of it feeling mildly guilty.

My daughter has taken to Run, Fatboy, Run. Yes, we let our 7 year old children watch PG-13 rated movies. Usually, they hear daddy Nitmos using similar language around them so they barely bat an eye when a movie character tells another to F&*% Off! After all, daddy tells other drivers to do that all the time. Or, when his TV football players aren’t moving to the right spot on the field, he insults their manhood and suggests that they’d make terrific jailhouse prags. And my favorite pro football team is the Detroit Lions (0-16) and, college, the Michigan Wolverines (3-9) so you can get a sense of how the fall went around my place. I’ve invented a few new profane words I hope to get into the next Webster’s edition. I’m not going to tell you what a shitspicket is. Or a garglefart. You’ll have to wait for the next Webster’s.

We’ve seen Run, Fatboy, Run about three times in the last week. Boy do the kids laugh when the main character, Dennis, suffers scrotal rash after his first run and decides to relieve the itch on a clothing store mannequin’s hand. Good times, good times.

I’m expecting a call from the principal’s office any time now.

Besides the silly humor of Fatboy, my family does not seem to have the desire to watch other running related shows or documentaries. That’s odd. You’d think they’d want to watch video of people running for hours on end. I taped a documentary called Running the Sahara about three guys who ran 4300 miles in 111 days across Africa to reach the Red Sea. I watched it alone. I guess no one wanted to watch because they didn’t molest any department store mannequins.

If you get a chance, the documentary was fairly interesting. Not really interesting but certainly captivating to see these guys take on sandstorms, 140 degree temperatures and re-route on the fly to avoid African political turmoil. It’s worth a look. The feature focused quite a bit on the interpersonal relationship side of the runners and their crew. As a runner, I would have liked to see more of the detailed, technical aspect of their nutrition, pacing, and hydration but I understand they probably wanted to open this up to a wider audience. And I’m a running geek.

There is one line in it that I found hilarious though. At one point, one of the runners is thinking about leaving the expedition. Charlie Engle, the lead musher, challenges this runner by saying:

“If you don’t want excitement, go run a marathon!”


Ha. Perspective, I guess. To me, marathons are exciting. But, I guess, when you run across a continent in a harsh climate, comparatively, it’s not.

The forecast around these parts indicates we’ll be watching more shows in the days ahead. Unless I want to watch running movies alone, I guess I’ll choose the ones that involve foul language and pus spewing blisters.

Or, at the very least, I can rub up against Mrs. Nitmos whenever a rash develops.

Happy trails.

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Congratulations to the three PR setting P.F. Changer’s this weekend: Vanilla, RazZ, And Kristina.

And congratulations to Nic on an indoor PR and feeling like a spinning top.
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Seven hard outdoor miles on Sunday at a slippery, slushy pace. Someone PLEASE tell the road commission to plow the sidewalks AFTER they plow the roads. Honestly. Common sense.