Decathlon: The Special Awards

Before we get to the winners and the distribution of booty, let's start with a salute to some of the folks who made this all possible:

The Guest Judges: Professors Piper and Webb, MyDogIsChelsea, and Mrs. ChuckDaddy made this a lot more fun and fair by helping me with the difficult job of ranking the creative entries of brilliantly creative people. They were good-humored and prompt and very receptive to what must have seemed like a very strange request indeed. They rock.

The Spouse: In her role as wife, Mrs.5000 has been very tolerant of the amount of time and brooding self-indulgence it takes to put on a Decathlon. My thanks to her for that.

The Caffeine: As always, my great thanks and a good chunk of my disposable income go out to the good people at Sound Grounds at 38th and Belmont for their unfailing supply of snacks and yummy beverages. I don't know how I'd do it without them!

The Competitors!

Many enter, but not all can finish. This is the Decathlon, by its very nature a grueling contest of endurance. There were a lot of entrants who ended up dropping out or scratching on a few events due to brain cramp, the ennui, or troublesome real-world intrusions such as travel, sickness, or professional crisis. We salute everyone who gave it a shot!

The Triathletes!

David Dean, DrSchnell, Morgan, and Snowgirl all finished three events apiece. David Dean led the triathletes with 64 total points.

The Quadrathletes!

MJ and Nichim both completed four events; of the two, MJ came out on top with 83 total points.

The Pentathlete!

PB competed in half of the events, amassing a solid 85.5 total points along the way.

The Sexathletes!

No, wait. We should probably call them....

The Hexathletes!

A distinguished group of frequent L&TM5K commentors all completed six events, including balaywho, Ben, Cartophiliac, Vice Dork Emeritus fingerstothebone, and current Blog Dork Rex Parker! Her first-place finish in the Physical Prowess contest and strong overall performance put balaywho just on top of this group, with 116.5 total points.

The Octathletes!

La gringissima put together a very strong run at the title, managing to gather 160 points in just eight events.

The Nonathletes!

Again, not the best name, but it's the only thing I can think of for "people who competed in nine of the events." All of them -- gl., Kadonkadonk, Rebel, Sandy, and Serendipity -- were right there in the thick of the competition. Kadonk scored highest of the group, with a monster 183.5!

The Lurkers!

We'll never know about you guys. But I hope you had fun with this too!