The Marathon Song


Verse:


In the middle of the desert
there stands a mountain so high
that if you reach the top
you can almost touch the sky.


And half-way down that mountain
there runs a babblin' brook
and the runners who go by there
say its the coolest drink on earth.


Chorus:


They're gonna run,
They're gonna run
all the way from Death Valley
just to have some fun.


They're gonna run,
they're gonna run
to the top of Mt. Whitney
in the California sun.


Verse:


There's an island in the ocean
that's sacred in its way
to the men of iron
who swim across its bay.


They bike around the volcano
and run along the shore
thru the hollowed grounds of Kono
they reach down to the core.


Chorus:


The Ironman
Triathlon
one hundred and forty miles
they swim, bike, and run.


The Ironman
Triathlon
one hundred and forty miles
in the South Pacific sun.


Verse:


Some are short and stocky
and some are long and tall,
and some run with a limp
and some can't run at all.


But put them in the ocean
and somehow they all can swim
so every year they enter
the Seal Beach Rough Water Swim.


Chorus:


They're gonna swim,
they're gonna swim
all the way to Seal
from the pier in Huntington.


They're gonna swim,
they're gonna swim
ten miles of rough water
beneath the warm Pacific sun.


Verse:


I have looked in a mirrow
I have looked in a book
I've looked almost every place
no matter what it took.


I've never been to Mt. Whitney
Kono, or the pier in Huntington
but I had the thrill of a lifetime
I ran the Long Beach Marathon.


Verse:


The neighborhoods are gorgeous,
they glimmer in the sun
and the people cheer the runners
every step that they run


When you reach the last mile
you're ten feet off the ground
thanks to the people of Long Beach
for the Long Beach Marathon.


Chorus:

The marathon,
the Long Beach Marathon
twenty six point two miles
through the city on the run.


The marathon,
the Long Beach Marathon
a guided tour of Long Beach
in the California sun.

My good friend Sanjay Sonawani put this poem to music, and did a great job.