Podcasts...and Ele's Race

"The Fox announcing crew slathered every hosanna invented on retiring Yankee Derek Jeter. It was a glob of maudlin prolixity." --Mike Pesca, on the Slate.com podcast The Gist (July 18, 2014)

I found this to be one of the funniest statements I heard all week, from one of my current favorite podcasts. (By the way, I happen to like Derek Jeter and think he's a first ballot Hall of Famer). I knew Mike Pesca from his articulate and erudite sports commentary on NPR, but recently a friend of mine turned me on to his Slate podcast The Gist, and I've been enjoying it for the last few weeks. Pesca is an intellectually curious guy, and his podcast allows him to explore many topics besides sports.

My job gives me an opportunity to listen to podcasts while I'm working, and I have a few other favorites. WTF with Marc Maron is at the top of my list. You may be familiar with Maron's story: struggling stand-up kicks drugs and self-destructive behavior and finds his niche interviewing people in his garage...and now he has his own show on IFC. WTF is a great podcast, though--and the part about Maron finding his niche isn't just blowing smoke. His interviews are in-depth and, for whatever reason, his guests open up for him and reveal themselves in ways they never would in a more conventional setting.

Another podcast I dig is The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show. Jeff Rubin is a contributor to the CollegeHumor web site (which you don't have to be in college to appreciate). In his podcast, he geeks out on his favorite topics, The Simpsons, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Batman (and other comics), video games, roller coasters, water slides, and his Degrassi guilty pleasure. Having many of the same interests (even though he's probably at least ten years younger than me), I enjoy his podcast a great deal.

***

Tomorrow is Ele's Race, the second official 5K race of the season for me. As I mentioned in a previous post, I knocked out the Capitol Memorial 5K in 27:41, not exactly lightning fast, but a personal best for my old middle-aged ass that has only been running regularly for 15 months. I'd love to top that 27:41 and plan on doing everything I can to do so. I'll be back here tomorrow to let you know how it went. My goal is somewhere south of 27:41, but I don't want to get down on myself if that doesn't happen. I should at the very least destroy the 31:19 I recorded at last year's Ele's Race.