Great Moments in Marathon Mustache History

Anybody who's seen me lately knows two things: 1) I'm scrawny as hell from all this running, and 2) I've got a... conspicuous... mustache currently leasing the real estate over my mouth. Well, before you go thinking I'm original, I'm here to give you a little background on the intersection of marathons and mustaches...

The first Olympic marathon, 1896, was won by mustachioed Greek marathoner Spyridon Louis.



Legend has it he stopped for a glass of wine on the way and still broke 3 hours... can you say that?

In the 1948 Olympics, Argentinian legend Delfo Cabrera rolled into London with a caterpillar on his upper lip and struck gold...





The first American running boom started with dashing man of letters Frank Shorter's win at the 1972 Munich games.



I don't think you get the full greatness that is "The Shorter" without a close-up...



Real.


All you Nike-heads might be asking "where's Pre?" well, Steve Prefontaine wasn't a marathoner. I'll give him a little shine for the effort:



but this is about marathoners.


By this point you're probably thinking to yourself, Fred, all this obscure old-school, b&w action is fine, but it's 2008, don't be so anachronistic. Mustaches aren't "now" in any sense of the word.

Wrong!

Haile Gebrselassie carried a kind of pubescent broom to the current world record (2:04:26).



Stylish.


And at the U.S. Olympic trials in New York last November, my friend Joao snapped this great picture of Brian Sell, who came from the second pack of runners, passing a cramping, clean shaven Dan Brown in the last two miles, to place third, qualifying for the Beijing games.



I have two words for that mustache: Checked Luggage.

In 17 days I toe the line in Hamburg, fully fit and facially fashionable.