If you've always fantasised about completing a marathon, but are far too lazy to actually run 42 kilometres, feel free to settle for the slacker's alternative: a TV Marathon.
For those who don't know, a TV Marathon is where a group gets DVDs of a particular series and then watches episode after episode, for hour after hour. This modern pursuit offers several advantages over its ancient Greek rival: guilt-free toilet breaks, greater alcohol consumption and significantly fewer blisters.
Nevertheless, just like regular sport, it provides couch athletes with many opportunities to indulge their competitive sides. For starters, you can try to smash your personal best, by spending even longer in front of the idiot box than last time. You can also have drinking competitions, try to throw mints into each other's mouths and place bets on who'll have the worst body odour when the day(s) is out. The list of tasteful possibilities is endless.
Some will want to turn their backsides to stone whilst watching contemporary series like
Dexter,
24,
House,
The Office,
Mad Men,
Weeds,
Band of Brothers and
The Wire. Others will prefer to clog their arteries in the company of classic shows such as
Rawhide,
Gunsmoke,
Hawaii Five-O,
Tales of the Gold Monkey,
Charlie's Angels,
Miami Vice,
Friends and
Seinfeld. But however you choose to shorten your lifespan, you'll need plenty of snacks, plenty of beverages, plenty of serviettes and comfortable seats for everyone to sit on.
Sadly, TV Marathoning is not recognised as an Olympic sport – yet. But if you and your friends can get drunk, rot your teeth and dull your brains, nobody can ever take that away from you.
