The Marathon Meter

Celebrity Marathon Meter

	Name	Race	Year	Known as
2:03:38	Patrick Makau Musyoki	Berlin	2008	World Record
2:46:03	Alan Turing	Amateur Athletic Championships	1947	Mathematician
2:46:42	Lance Armstrong	NYC	2007	Cyclist
2:50:53	David Petraeus	Omaha	1982	Commander in Iraq
3:01:18	Max Baucus	Governor's Cup	1982	Senator, Ambassador to China
3:16:00	Harry Reid	Boston	1972	Senator
3:30:18	John Edwards	MCM	1983	Senator
3:31:00	Michael Dukakis	Boston	1951	Governor of Massachusetts
3:38:01	Edward Norton	NYC	2009	Actor
3:44:52	George W Bush	Houston	1993	43rd US President
3:52:57	Hilary Tsui	Hong Kong	2015	Entertainer
3:55:46	Edison Chen	Hong Kong	2012	Entertainer
3:56:12	Will Ferrell	Boston	2003	Actor
3:58:44	Eliot Spitzer	NYC	1983	Governor of New York
3:59:36	Sarah Palin	Humpy's	2005	Governor of Alaska
4:01:25	Paul Ryan	Grandma's	1991	VP Candidate
4:10:17	Haruki Murakami	NYC	2005	Writer
4:26:05	Mike Huckabee	Little Rock	2006	Governor of Arkansas
4:29:20	Oprah Winfrey	MCM	1994	Talk Show Host
4:34:18	Lisa Ling	Boston	2001	TV Host
4:45:36	Jennifer Amyx	Johnstown	1975	5 Years Old
4:54:36	Bill Frist	MCM	1997	Senate Majority Leader
4:58:25	Al Gore	MCM	1997	Vice President
5:29:58	Katie Holmes	NYC	2007	Wife of Tom Cruise
5:40:03	Fauja Singh	Toronto	2003	92 Years Old
6:06:00	David Paterson	NYC	1999	NY Governor, legally blind

Note, list updated with Paul Ryan's 1991 personal record (PR). Ryan claimed he ran close to 2:50, but was caught cheating before his next blink, unsurprisingly. Runners are extremely sensitive to their own PRs, as well as others'.

John Kerry stumbled in his presidential campaign when he told reporters that he had run (along) Boston marathon, but forgot his result. The problem is that a runner never forgets his results.

Overall, Democrats are faster (John Edward) and tougher (David Paterson), while Republicans score on diversity (Sarah Palin).

Cheat Run

The organizing committee of the Xiamen Marathon announced mass scale fraud had been uncovered in the running race held on January 2, 2010 in Xiamen, Fujian Province.

Over 30 out of the top 100 male runners had been identified after studying photos and video recordings and were striped of their results, most of which are within 2:34. The magic number is the qualifying line for Level 1 athletes, who would deserve a bonus in the national college entrance examination. Runners cheated by wearing multiple time chips, taking motor transportations, etc. In one instance, when No. 8900 passed the finish line on TV, two results for 8892 and 8897 were recorded. The result of 8900? Never showed up.

Find your place on the celebrity marathon meter

Katie Holmes finished the NYC marathon last Sunday, became one of many celebrities who conquered the 26.2 mile endurance. Find your place on the following celebrity marathon meter:


Celebrity Marathon Meter

	person	race	year	reason on the list
2:04:55	Paul Tergat	Berlin	2003	World Record
2:46:03	Alan Turing	Amateur Athletic Championships	1947	Mathematician
2:46:42	Lance Armstrong	NYC	2007	Cyclist
2:50:53	David Petraeus	Omaha	1982	Commander in Iraq
3:30:18	John Edwards	MCM	1983	Senator
3:31:00	Michael Dukakis	Boston	1951	Governor of Massachusetts
3:44:52	George W Bush	Houston	1993	43rd US President
3:56:12	Will Ferrell	Boston	2003	Actor
3:59:36	Sarah Palin	Humpy's	2005	Governor of Alaska
4:03:19	Shinya Yamanaka	Tokyo	2012	Nobel Laureate in Medicine 2012
4:26:05	Mike Huckabee	Little Rock	2006	Governor of Arkansas
4:29:20	Oprah Winfrey	MCM	1994	Talk Show Host
4:34:18	Lisa Ling	Boston	2001	TV Host
4:45:36	Jennifer Amyx	Johnstown	1975	5 Years Old
4:54:36	Bill Frist	MCM	1997	Senate Majority Leader
4:58:25	Al Gore	MCM	1997	Vice President
5:29:58	Katie Holmes	NYC	2007	Wife of Tom Cruise
5:40:03	Fauja Singh	Toronto	2003	92 Years Old
6:06:00	David Paterson	NYC	1999	NY Governor, legally blind

Holmes' entry was neither chosen by the lottery, while 60,000 runners failed to be selected, nor secured through one of many run for charity clubs sponsored by the event.

Pizza and beers, my friend

In the August issue of the Runner's World, there is an article about an exclusive training club, the Hansons-Brooks Long Distance Project. In short, they are the dominant, best, US marathon team of American runners. Among the top 10 US runners, half would be in their team of 23 members. The lengthy article was on the effectiveness of group training, but what drew my attention was their dinner menu.

So what's on their dinner menu?

Pizza and a couple of beers, and, that's it. That what I would call it 'life'.

The moral of the story is that regardless of what other people say, elite trainers and runners know what their body needs to win.