I know I'm responding to a five-year-old post, but this one is so good, it's hard not to respond to something that is also wonderfully literate. Besides, I know this guy's still around. It illustrates another one of RP's, albeit more infrequent, attributes: the longer post that informs as much as it entertains. Thanks, guy!

this could be good played on a bose

I've been known to do the occasional triathlon. Even though most of my best friends are triathletes, I gotta admit that triathletes tend to be somewhat high-strung, type-A folks. So it should come as no surprise that the vibe at some of the bigger races can be pretty intense. For example, the races produced by Ironman North America —- 2000 racers, 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, 26.2 miles of running —- are some of the most "intense" (vibe-wise) races around. Most people who start spend many hours a week for many months training to complete the race. Then you have race week, which is like a big carnival of fit, intense tri geeks jogging around in their little speedos and biking around town on their $4000 bikes.

Yeah, so it's a wild show. As race day gets closer, everything just builds and builds and all the type-A triathletes who have cut back on their training to save their energy for race day get closer and closer to the edge. Then race morning rolls around. Folks get up at 4:00am to do final preparations for a race that will take most people between 10 and 17 hours to finish, and to start getting ready for the mass start (2000 racers, 4000 arms spinning and 4000 legs kicking through the water when the cannon sounds) at 7:00am.

At smaller races, in the early morning hours, when people are getting ready, race managment will pump high energy music through the sound system. You know, they want to get people hyped up! But at the big Ironman North America races, they know that people are already hyped up. Most competitors are so on-edge that they're about to snap. So how does race management keep people calm? They play Enya. First time I did one of those races, I wondered why they weren't playing the high energy dance music you hear befoer shorter races. Then I looked around, and noticed how calm and mellow Enya was keeping all the high-strung triathletes. It's friggin' brilliant!

So now, whenever I hear Enya, it makes me think I'm about to do a long race.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Enya.  I was staying at a friend's cabin in the Finger Lakes area of NY.  Beautiful scenery, an idyllic setting.  On that Sunday morning, I was awakened by the smell of coffee and woodsmoke and the sounds of Enya coming over the stereo.  I asked our host who it was, and he told me that putting this album was part of his Sunday morning ritual.  Very calming and surreal.  I've loved it ever since.

See the Perpetuum Jazzile version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05ip-N0H1Ig

"Thank you for calling XYZ Corp customer care. Please stay on the line, your call will be handled in the order in which it was received."

One of my favorite pick-up lines: Dude: Hey, do you like Enya? Chick: Sure, yeah. Dude: Well, how'd ya like ME Enya?
Thank you, I'm here all week.

From one of Steve Martin's best, L.A. Story. Who knew an Enya soundtrack could do so much for a movie?

I used to like Enya in the late 80's because of her similarity (in my mind) to the cocteau twins. Then my mom got ahold of my CD and used to blast Orinoco Flow all night and day.

Sorry mom. You ruined it for me.