STEPHEN LEWIS, Post Columnist
Posted: Sunday, May 2, 2010 7:40 am

Congratulations to all the participants in the recent Country Music Marathon.

What an accomplishment to complete a 26.2-mile run. Even to those who did a half-marathon I offer my sincerest of “way to gos.”

I can’t think of much that takes more commitment than running, on pavement mind you, for two and a half to five hours. Well, I can’t think of much other that the commitment your spouse will have to make to take care of you 10 years from now when you have your double knee replacements. Or your primary care giver in the nursing home where you’ll be recovering because the arthritis in your hip causes you to take a nasty fall long after your running days are over.

Of course I’ve never personally ran in a “running” marathon but I think I have completed some equally grueling marathons of my own.

For instance, this past week I spent three full days glued to the NFL player draft. I can tell you anything you ever wanted to know about every player the Miami Dolphins drafted.

What I can’t tell you is how my daughter’s piano recital went. Or how my son did in his baseball game. Or if my wife is talking to me yet or if she is still mad that I threw an empty drink can at her when she dared to speak to me just as the commissioner was about to announce the first pick of the draft. Total and complete focus. Now that’s commitment.

You’re probably saying, “Yes, but there were some breaks in there as the draft was stretched over three days.”

That’s true. But what about the time I watched 24 hours straight of a “Three Stooges” marathon. For one complete rotation of the Earth on its axis I did nothing but watch Moe beat the stew out of Larry and Curly.

Of course there were some undesired consequences for watching 24 hours straight of the Stooges. For instance, for the next three months every time my children did something wrong I would give them the classic two-fingered eye poke. And we did get a visit from DCS when I hit my oldest son upside his head with an iron. Hey, Curly just shook it off when Moe did the same to him.

And to show that not all of my marathons are TV related I’ll share one more.

Approximately 10 summers ago I decided that I would forgo a bath or shower for as long as I could. Long story short, I made it six days.

During that time I bathed zero times although I did swim twice.

I mowed the yard once and hand washed two cars. I water sealed my deck and weeded my tomato beds. I cleaned out the garage and painted our front porch rocking chairs.

After the third day my wife moved into the spare bedroom at night. When I finally gave it up you could see the dirt silhouettes of me on my bed sheets.

I may not have ran a marathon but I can assure you the stench I was giving off was somewhere in between a group of marathoners and a herd of those buffalo that cross the Serengeti plains.

So once again, congratulations to all you marathon runners.

I just hope you can see there are those of us just as committed to our hobbies and beliefs as well.

Uh oh, looks like I’ve got back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back episodes of Seinfeld coming on in 10 minutes.

Time for some major commitment on my part. After all, my wife always said I should be committed.