Man takes 54 years to run marathon; still faster than me

Once upon a time, a man named Shizo disappeared in the middle of a marathon. Fifty years later, someone found him hiding in Japan, too ashamed to ever admit what happened. Then he was invited to return to that very marathon to complete his run. His final time was roughly 54 years. 

And yet I guarantee you that he will always be faster a marathon runner than I, for I shall never run any such thing. 

The full story here, from this link. Big thanks to my sister, Kara, for passing this along. 

Shizo Kanakuri disappeared while running the marathon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He was listed as a missing person in Sweden for 50 years — until a journalist found him living quietly in southern Japan.

Overcome with heat during the race, he had stopped at a garden party to drink orange juice, stayed for an hour, then took a train to a hotel and sailed home the next day, too ashamed to tell anyone he was leaving.

There’s a happy ending: In 1966 Kanakuri accepted an invitation to return to Stockholm and complete his run. His final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds — surely a record that will last forever.