Wednesday, October 19, 2011

World's Oldest Marathoner


I'm not one to obsess about my age, but I occasionally fall into those little moments of panic that I know most of us get.  "I'm almost done having kids, then they'll grow up, then I'm old and decrepit, and then I die."

In these moments, it helps me to think about old people who are living a kick ass life.  Old people that are laughing with their friends and family and doing the activities that bring them joy.

Check out this old guy:

Fauja Singh after finishing the marathon
Source

This man just finished the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.



He is 100 years old.



The most incredible part of this story is that Mr. Singh ran his first marathon at age 89.  Eighty-nine.


I am going to put up a picture of this awesome dude on my treadmill, and look at him when I get discouraged that I'm still. not. running.  If I'm anything like him, I have another 70+ years of running, and it probably doesn't matter at all that I took a three month hiatus in my twenties.  And when I'm running hard, and it starts to hurt, I'm going to look at this picture and try to imagine the pain that his hundred year old body endures during a marathon, and I'm going to straighten up and soldier on.  


Ha!  I just noticed something hilarious at the bottom of this article:

"... and even finished ahead of five other competitors"

 Oh man.  How would you like to run a marathon, have a hell of a day and finish in over eight hours, and then be publicly called out for finishing behind  a hundred year old man?  Whoa.  Talk about a kick in the pants.


12 comments:

  1. AMAZING!!! The same weekend, there was an 80 year old who ran a 3:15 marathon!!!!

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  2. This guy is totally amazing. I would rather DIE than finish behind him. If your dead, at least you have a good reason for finishing behind a 100 year old man.

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  3. I HATE that I just made a typo in that and can't correct it. I should have written THEY'RE instead of THERE. Ugh. I'm the worst.

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  4. I was there!!! YAY canada! That guy was awesome :) I think it's funny that he wasn't the last to finish I didn't know that. There was another older guy an 80 year old that finished just over 3hrs! AWESOME

    I ran the 5k that day but next year I'm doing that marathon.

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  5. My brother was using this guy as an example for why I shouldn't brag about running marathons, because even super old people can do it.

    He was mostly kidding.

    Mostly.

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  6. this guy is seriously an inspiration. soo cool. and that last statement. omg. hilarious.

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  7. This guy is so inspiring, it's incredible! But yeah, I really wouldn't want to be one of the few that came in behind him. Blow to the ego, for sure!

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  8. He makes me feel like a real wuss! That guy is incredible and proof that you are never too old and it is never too late.

    I don't know what would be more humiliating: the people that finished behind him or being the husband who finished behind is wife who was 9 months pregnant and later gave birth that day.

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  9. He doesn't even look close to 100.

    I would hate to be one of the few people that were behind him. Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds!

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  10. Shut the front door!!! I cannot believe that guy ran a race at 100 years old and actually came ahead of 5 other runners!! That's crazy!!

    But yeah I wanna be like him, too. Very inspiring!

    Although the look on his face kinda says, "Oh man, I need a serious serving of Metamucil".

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  11. i love these stories, first it proves we can do anything, second our bodies won't fall apart from running!

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  12. Ohhh, don't worry about it. I'm sure that something will happen before you die. Grandkids maybe?

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Hearing from you makes me happy! :)

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