By Tom Held
Saturday, Sep 6 2008, 04:55 PM
|
Chris Ponteri, from the InStep Running & Walking Centers, tipped me off to the running aspect of Sarah Palin's athletic endeavors, which was glossed over a bit in all the talk of moose, hockey moms and lipstick this past week. Palin, better-known for her ascendancy to become the Republican candidate for vice president, knocked out a 3:59:36 in the Humpy's Classic Marathon in Anchorage back in August 2005, about a year before she became the first female governor in Alaska history. That time was good for 63rd overall, and 15th among the women. Humpy's may be a glorious run around Anchorage, but it doesn't exactly draw an elite field. The winning time in 2005 was a 3:01:45, and I didn't see anything in the race write-up about a caribou or moose-killing requirement that would slow the pace. Palin's 3:59 and change, though, is certainly a quality effort, nearly an hour better than the median marathon time for women that year, which was 4:51:19. The Wall Street Journal has a decent piece on the vice presidential candidate's running habits, and this posting from the Free Republic chastises the dreaded mainstream media for failing to report on her accomplishments. The interesting part of that is the comments, which includes a listing of a few other political marathons: President George W. Bush - 3:44:52 in the 1993 Houston Marathon and Vice President Al Gore - 4:58:25 in the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:58:25. Of course, the press had a great time with pictures of President Clinton in running shorts during his days in Washington D.C. That's something that would have been best overlooked. |