Pikermi!

I learned a new word today: pikermi.

It's a race of 13.1 miles. Such a race is traditionally called a "half marathon", but a lot of us feel that that's selling it short. A "half marathon" sounds like it's not a real race. You often hear people say, "I only ran a half marathon," as if 13.1 miles isn't a very hard distance to run.

Well, Team Pikermi isn't going to take it any more. They are leading a campaign to give the race its own name. Their Facebook page has 669 follower. The name, of course, comes from a town that's approximately halfway between Marathon and Athens. It's pronounced "pee-KER-mi". And I never intend to run a "half marathon" again.

This comes right in time, because I have a pikermi coming up this Saturday. It's the second annual Madison Mini-Marathon (another unfortunate name.) Now I'm going to lead a campaign to get the official name changed for next year.