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If you’re using your age as an excuse to avoid running a marathon or starting an exercise program, Fauja Singh might have some words for you—words such as “Get moving, youngster!”
The 100-year-old Sikh man recently became the oldest person to complete a full marathon, putting his name in the Guinness World Records. The Punjab native, who took up running at age 63, finished the 26-mile race in Toronto in eight hours—and without needing a stretcher. Along the way, he set world records in eight different distances for runners older than 100.
“Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed,” his coach and translator Harmander Singh told the Associated Press at the end of the race. “Earlier, just before we came around the (final) corner, he said, ‘Achieving this will be like getting married again.’”
Perhaps so, but the only time many men do any running around is before they get married.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips and more.]
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GOOD SPORTS: Not Too Old for the Marathon
Compiled & partly written by MELVIN DURAI 
December 2011
If you’re using your age as an excuse to avoid running a marathon or starting an exercise program, Fauja Singh might have some words for you—words such as “Get moving, youngster!”The 100-year-old Sikh man recently became the oldest person to complete a full marathon, putting his name in the Guinness World Records. The Punjab native, who took up running at age 63, finished the 26-mile race in Toronto in eight hours—and without needing a stretcher. Along the way, he set world records in eight different distances for runners older than 100.
“Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed,” his coach and translator Harmander Singh told the Associated Press at the end of the race. “Earlier, just before we came around the (final) corner, he said, ‘Achieving this will be like getting married again.’”
Perhaps so, but the only time many men do any running around is before they get married.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips and more.]
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