OCTOBER 10th - Amazing Feet



On this day in 1976, 98 year-old Dimitrion Yordanidis ran the Marathon marathon (actually the Athens Marathon) in 7 hours and 33 minutes to become the oldest man to finish a marathon. First off, you have to give props right off the bat because A. Dimitrion was Greek, and 2. he ran the Marathon marathon. You know the same 26 miles that Pheidippides ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Greeks had beaten the Persians before he dropped dead. People often fail to mention that he had run 150 miles over the previous two days. But Yordanidis kept it real. Stayed to true to his roots. Damn old roots. Dude was born in the 70’s. The 1870’s. That’s wild. Thomas Jefferson would have to be impressed, right? Probably not. He would be all, “98 years old and you’re running a marathon? Old Ben Franklin was chasing after women well into his 80’s, and would have continued to do so if he had lived into his 90’s. Women and politics, Dimi. The only areas of life where endurance really matters. Next time take a bus.” TJ meant that performance-wise, which, of course running a marathon might help. Stamina and whatnot. But TJ wasn’t concerned with biology. For those who are, a marathon at 98 is a quite an amazing feat. Must have had amazing feet. Just proves you are never too old. Not really though. Pretty sure most 98 year-olds would finish that race the way Pheidippides did. But everybody dies. Only Mel Gibson really lives. Or something like that.

This day has been Marked.

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