空軍一號上的跑步機

Some of you may be interested in finding that the former Vice President Al Gore once completed a full marathon (Marine Corp Marathon) in 1997. If I remember it correctly, his time is a little faster than 3:40. This is not easy, considering he is 183cm and 89kg. He used to do 150 push-ups, 100 sit-ups everyday, weightlifting every other day, and run 5 or 6 days a week.

I think running is one of the factors reflecting the strength of a nation.

I once read a Japanese magazine (called Runners). I found there were so many running race every weekend. My Japanese friend, who is also a runner, told me that Japan, which is much smaller in size, has more running races than US. he said there was a Japanese runner who once run 100 marathons in one year. This is pretty amazing and unbelievale - twice every week, one on Saturday and the other on the next day. On the same magazine, I also read that there was a Japanese runner who completed over 4800km running across America. No wonder why the Japan female runner won the 2000 Olympic marathon.

I think this is the same in Korean, though I don't have much information about it. This gave me some ideas why the Korean runner won the 2001 Boston marathon by beating all other Kenyan and Ethopian runners, eliminating their many year winnning streak.

So in many international races held in US, we can easily find out Japanese and Korean names in the top places.

I am happy to know that there are more endurance races in Taiwan and many are (ultra-)marathons and triathlons. This is what I never heard about 10 years ago. This shows our awareness of working hard to become healthier.

I think President Bush is about 60 years old. Most of you may saw him on TV and knew how he looked like - not atheletic. But you may not believe that he once ran 3 mile (= 4.8K) at about 20 min in a race months ago.

To promote Be Healthier U.S., he hosted the inaugural President's Challenge race (3 mile run and a 1.5 mile fitness walk) for his Cabinet and White House staff. Not only that, he even ran the 3 mile race aggressively. His first and second mile times are 6:30, 6:47, and he finished at his 3 mile PR 20:28.

1 mile = 1.6 K