Inspirational or Overwhelmed?

Inspiration 101

A 100-year-old runner became the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the race in Toronto on Sunday.

Indian-born Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records for his accomplishment.

It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line – more than six hours after Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year – and he was the last competitor to complete the course.

But his time wasn’t nearly as remarkable as the accomplishment.

Event workers dismantled the barricades along the finish line and took down sponsor banners even as Singh made his way up the final few hundred metres of the race.

Family, friends and supporters greeted Singh when he finished the race.

“Beating his original prediction, he’s overjoyed,” his coach and translator Harmander Singh said. “Earlier, just before we came around the (final) corner, he said, ‘Achieving this will be like getting married again.’

“He’s absolutely overjoyed, he’s achieved his lifelong wish.”

Sunday’s run was Singh’s eighth marathon – he ran his first at age 89 – and wasn’t the first time he set a record.

In the 2003 Toronto event, he set the mark in the 90-plus category, finishing the race in 5 hours, 40 minutes and 1 second.

And on Thursday in Toronto, Singh broke world records for runners older than 100 in eight different distances ranging from 100 metres to 5,000 metres.

Singh said he’s hopeful his next project will be participating in the torch relay for the 2012 London Games. He carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games.

When I first see an article on a 100 year old who finishes a marathon,  I think “Wow! Congratulations! Amazing!”  My second round of thoughts are “Where am I on my fitness program, over all health, and looking to the future condition?”  It is a constant challenge to be your own cheerleader, so having a personal trainer, a friend (human or animal) to train with, a fitness calendar that gets a checkmark and/or notes when completed, or an athletic event with a target date can be some of the ways to stay motivated and inspired.  Just knowing that you can be 100 years old and finish a marathon is a remarkable inspiration for what is possible and a good reminder to keep taking care of this body until it says no.  No to overwhelm and yes to inspiration!