Talk about smoking your opponents.
A 50-year-old marathon runner known as “Uncle Chen” recently reportedly finished the 26.2 miles-long Xin’anjiang Marathon in Jiande, China on Nov. 6. in just 3 hours and 28 minutes while chain-smoking a pack of cigarettes.
The organizers of the event certified Chen’s run as legitimate, per TMZ.
It’d be one thing he was one of the last runners to cross the finish line but Chen was able to finish 547th out of around 1,500 runners, which is pretty impressive given what else he was doing while running.
Apparently, he has some experience puffing smoke while smoking the other runners. It’s said that he was seen at a 2017 race in Hangzhou with a cigarette hanging from his mouth during the race. He also reportedly smoked in the Guangzhou Marathon in 2018, finishing that race in approximately 3 hours and 36 minutes, per Canadian Running Magazine.
While his smoking habit certainly doesn’t sound like the basis for a healthy lifestyle, he clearly still has the stamina and physical ability to compete at a high level in distance running. So, hey, whatever works for you, man.
The fact that Chen can finish a marathon in a decent time while smoking a pack of cigarettes certainly got a lot of people in the sports world talking and reacting.
A man after my own heart https://t.co/i7JEtji7ba
— Liam Coleman (@LiamColemanMet) November 15, 2022
https://twitter.com/MaggieGray/status/1592699300072796161
https://twitter.com/therealadamgee/status/1592300845080903680
dudes rock https://t.co/08Qksn3J63
— dean (@deangleberry) November 14, 2022
finally some good news 🙂 https://t.co/tMdgVbbcFJ
— foxes in fiction 🇵🇸 (@foxesinfiction) November 15, 2022
— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillian_alv) November 15, 2022
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.