Pop Culture Meets Running: Hey There Delilah!

My Monday morning ritual consists of many things, one of which is scouring the LetsRun.com forums for new and interesting forum topics. I stumbled upon a thread titled 'who are some of the hottest professional american distance runners? male/female' and I just had to click and see what people were saying. Call me shallow if you'd like. :P


Within the topic I found a new name I had never heard of, Delilah DiCrescenzo, a professional distance runner (Puma) that competes in the 3000m steeplechase.  She's definitely fit and good looking, so I won't disagree with the person who suggested her, but what I found on her Wikipedia.org page was something too interesting to pass up.


Many summers ago I discovered, as did the rest of the population, a lovely song by the Plain White T's titled Hey There Delilah aired on the radio and I fell in love. I immediately bought downloaded their album and was glad I didn't spend a dime on it. What drivel it was, rather surprising since Hey There Delilah was so much fun to listen to.


Well, it turns out Delilah DiCrescenzo is THE Delilah they sing about.  From Wikipedia:

She is the subject of the Plain White T's song "Hey There Delilah".^[6] She had met Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson through a mutual friend, but the two had never been romantically involved. She eventually agreed to go on a date with Higgenson to the Grammy Awards, where the song was up for an award.^[7] An interview on the Today Show clarifies that she has a boyfriend and, with his blessing, went to the Grammys as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

So there you have it...once again, pop culture meets running culture. This time, in the strangest of ways.