The Tom Waits Run - Name and Motto

Name and Motto

Aside from the obvious pun on the name of the famed Norwegian marathon runner Grete Waitz, who instigated a run in her own name for the sake of motivating physically unfit women to start exercising (perhaps similar to various so-called "Couch to 5K" exercise plans), the use of the name of American singer Tom Waits could also be seen as one expression of counterculture, a pitting of the mainstream Norwegian ideals of a healthy, fit and sensible lifestyle against the connotations of smoke-filled dive bars and drunkenness that often feature as motifs in Waits' music - perhaps in particular early albums like Heartattack and Vine, The Heart of Saturday Night and Closing Time. Another, unofficial name is Til fots over Grønland (Eng. On foot across Greenland) - also a pun, this one on the name of the Grønland district of Old Oslo in which most of the places along the route can be found, the Norwegian name for Greenland being the same as for the district. The motto of the Tom Waits Run is in Norwegian Fra ruin til Fiasco (Eng. From ruin to Fiasco), referring to the starting point at the ruins of the St. Mary Church in the Medieval Park and the endpoint at Café Fiasco, respectively.