When I first decided to run a marathon, I figured out that I would work to beat Oprah. She was the first celebrity name that popped into my head, and I figured, who couldnt run faster than her?
The problem is, when Oprah ran the New York Marathon (1994) she looked a bit different. Apparently, the down cycle of the world's most famous yo-yo dieter netted her a 4:29. Oprah has grabbed headlines with her Marathon finish, not because of her time, but because many thought she single-handedly had ruined the Marathon by expanding the sport while at the same time "lowering the bar for excellence".Oprah's pace, about 10 minutes and 16 seconds a mile, was too fast for me. So I decided to "lower my own bar for excellence" by finding another celebrity I could beat - Katie Holmes (aka Mrs. Tom Cruise). You too can find your own low bar of excellence by finding a celebrity to beat on Complete Running Network's list of 25 Celebrities Who’ve Run a Marathon. Go easy on yourself by aiming low, like Mario Lopez (5:41:41) or David Lee Roth (6:04:43) or if you really want to challenge yourself aim high like George Bush (3:44:52) or William Baldwin (3:24:29).
Either way, its nice having a goal to beat. And if you can beat one of our wonderful celebrities or politicians that spend their time during the race surrounded by bodyguards, trainers and pacers, who tell them when to hydrate and refuel and hand them the necessary supplies, while they run along thinking about how much better than you thay are ... then all the better :)
2 comments:
I thought Oprah ran Marine Corps. Anyway, yeah, it's fun to see what times different celebrities have longed. But it pains me that Dubya is a fast runner. Oh well, I guess he's gotta be a good at something. Running the country just wasn't it.
That was the cool thing about running the Grand Rapids Marathon, instead of 5:00 pace teams, they were all celebrity times. Unfortunately, Oprah was the slowest pace team, but I still take some pride in beating Ms. Holmes.
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