Horsemen of the Esophagus

Yesterday I finished reading a book called Horesmen of the Esophagus. It's about competitive eating.

I always stumble explaining that part to people. I mean do I say the sport of competitive eating. The competitive eating industry. The competitive eating circuit.

I don't know.

But truly, the eaters - or gurgitators as they like to be called - in this book are truly athletes. Like professional football players or professional marathoners, they do things that are truly mindboggling. I mean eating nearly 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Crazy.

And the book was written far better than the subject matter deserved. It was a compelling read although as I got to the end I thought to myself how it would be even better if it were a book about real athletes. Marathoners for example. As you get to the end of the narrative the author is clearly struck by the melancholy of what these men and women were doing to themselves and how they brought themselves to close to the edge for the glory of winning a title in competitive eating.

I suppose you can kill yourself running also. But somehow running extreme distances seems much less crazy than stuffing yourself with tons and tons of food.