I’m a pretty healthy guy, but sometimes I get halfway up a flight of steps and consider lying down and napping it off. The guy in the turban and the not-exactly-matching track suit is Fauja Singh, a shoot 100-year old man who completed the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in close to eight hours, making him the oldest person to finish the 26.2-mile race. It’s official: I’ve lost my last excuse, and now must come to terms with the fact that I’m terrible and bad at everything.

From NBC New York:

It was the eighth marathon for Singh, who was born India in 1911 and did not start running marathons until he was 89, after he moved to England following the death of his wife and son. He says not smoking or drinking alcohol throughout his life, combined with a vegetarian diet and up to 10 miles of walking or running per day are the secrets to his health.

“He says no one is forcing him to do it. It’s his desire to do it,” coach and translator Harmander Singh said Sunday in an interview with CNN. “He wanted to do one when he’s 100 and today’s the day.”

I like that they included the statement from his trainer, as if he was a Toddler in a Tiara and was being forced to jog for eight hours. Anyway, Singh’s 8:25.17 put him six hours behind the winner, 38-year old Kenneth Mungara of Kenya, and the “Sikhs in the City” shirt he wore for the race is proof that he’s legitimately 100. The run not only gets him a story on NBC New York and national coverage as an inspiration but a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records, topping the previous Oldest Marathoner, Dimitrion Yordanidis, a 98-year old who ran in Athens in 1976.

You can check out footage of him finishing up the race after the jump.

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Normally, Tosh.0 posts on With Leather involve web redemptions for the Phillies tazer kid or the “boom goes the dynamite” guy. Best case scenario, Manny Pacquiao has just punched him in the face and you need to know about it.

This week’s requisite Tosh post spotlights the $150,000 Tosh.0 Marathon, wherein thousands of people gathered to run on treadmills on Hermosa Beach in California to see how far they could get before a Kenyan runner finished first. As if that weren’t enough, the marathon featured magicians, stairmasters, improv sketch comedy and a bunch of horrible racism that is okay because he’s kidding. You can check out the video below, but be aware of all the cursing and slow motion lady-running before you click play.

The best part is even Tosh being unable to mock the affable Kenyan guy at the end. I did the math, and if I’d participated in this with my sharp 17-minute mile, I would’ve logged about 7/10th of one before giving up and having fun on the beach.

[via Tosh.0]

Kenyan marathoner Nicholas Manza Kamakaya won the Gold Coast Marathon in Queensland, Australia, set a course record, and lost $27,000 in the process.

Kamakaya can run a marathon in under two hours, ten minutes. He did it in Beijing, setting a record of 2:08:49. The Gold Coast Marathon was offering a 27K bonus to anyone with a time of 2:10 or under. Kamakaya set the record at 2:10:01, winning $10,000, but if that time had been one second, just ONE second of a marathon shorter, he would’ve more than tripled his pay. That’s the futility of life, isn’t it? Guy Fieri tells you you can do this, but you don’t keep ping pong balls bouncing on a slanted table long enough and you lose like a hundred grand. What the f**k is the point of our lives?

Kamakaya seemed much cheerier about the situation.

“I’m just happy. For me it’s so nice [to win],” said Manza. “It’s very special for me because it’s my first time in Australia and I’m happy because I’ve run the course record.”

This was his first win, having finished sixth at Rome and second at Beijing and Los Angeles. I guess 10K is still a pretty sweet sum for an afternoon of running, and I applaud him for being a better, much less bitter, and way, way faster person than me.

[h/t to Fourth-Place Medal]

Last week I introduced you to Joe D’Amico, a Chicago man who was training for the Los Angeles Marathon by eating only McDonald’s during the 30 days leading up to the race. And sure, he ate from the healthy menu like a woman, but he stuck to his guns and he completed the marathon. Or at least I assume he did, because nobody cares about him anymore, thanks to 400-pound Kelly Gneiting.

Gneiting (pronounced Neat-ing, I pray) is a professional sumo wrestler and he broke his previous Guinness World Record for being the fattest largest man to finish a marathon, at 6-feet tall and just inside 4 bills*. In 2008, Gneiting crossed the finish line at the LA Marathon in just under 12 hours. This time he did it in just under 10 hours, or what I like to call bedroom time. What, I sleep a lot.

“I honestly think I’m one of the best athletes in the world,” Gneiting told the Los Angeles Times last week before the race.

Gneiting’s athletic aspirations don’t stop at running the marathon – he’s only just getting started on his bucket list.

He’d also like to swim the English Channel, win a spot in the NFL playing for the Philadelphia Eagles and hike from the Dead Sea to Mt. Everest. (Via LA Times)

Keep in mind, that’s not a bucket list in the sense of the book/movie. It’s a list of things he wrote on the side of a KFC bucket. Included on that list? Buy more KFC buckets.

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An Illinois man is less than 10 days away from a goal he set for himself 3 weeks ago, as he gave himself 30 days to prepare and train for the Los Angeles Marathon. And while that would seemingly make him no different than thousands of other people who will run in that very same race, it’s how Joe D’Amico has been preparing that sets him apart from the rest. He’s been eating only McDonald’s food.

D’Amico’s ongoing goal is to train for the 26.2-mile marathon by following his normal daily running routine while eating 3 meals a day at McD’s. And while that sounds counterproductive, he’s not exactly channeling Morgan Spurlock.

Unlike filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who gained 24 pounds and saw his health rapidly deteriorate while eating at McDonald’s for a month for his hit 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” D’Amico won’t order large fries, and he’s never had a Big Mac. He did try an Angus deluxe burger, though, as part of his training

“I can do it because I’m running 100 miles a week,” he said. (Via Chicago Sun-Times)

Also, instead of the menu items that I love, like chicken strips with buffalo sauce and the largest container of fries that even God could barely lift, he’s eating grilled chicken sandwiches and, even worse, he’s doing it in moderation with small meals… That’s cheating!

I mean, aside from the fact that he’s blogging about his exploits and raising money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, what’s the point of this whole desperate plea for attention? Oh, I see – merchandising. What a sellout. Oh, the profits are also going to charity? Well look at you, Mr. Cool Eating Healthy And Giving Money To People Who Need It Guy. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to eat a Choco Taco and do half a sit-up.

On Sunday, thousands of runners from across the world competed in the Tokyo Marathon in, I’m guessing, Japan, and the big winner was Ethiopia’s Hailu Mekonnen, who finished in first place and strengthened my belief that people from Africa are good runners. Perhaps the bigger story, though, was Japan’s own Yuki Kawauchi, who finished third, which many consider a remarkable feat for an amateur runner. Or maybe the even bigger story was Britain’s Joseph Tame, who attached four iPhones to his quirky running attire and streamed his entire marathon effort on the Internet to raise money for the Tyler Foundation, a children’s cancer organization in Japan.

Heck, the biggest story was probably Edison Pena, one of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days last October, finishing his second major marathon since the famous ordeal. Pena also ran in the New York marathon only a month after his rescue. In the Tokyo race, he shaved a half hour off his time. And I’m sure there were many, many more runners, each with their own awesome stories.

But it’s really hard to judge so many runners and choose the best story or the bravest performance or even the most inspirational tale. Thankfully, it’s Japan and a bunch of people showed up dressed in really strange costumes. I was disappointed by the lack of creepy old men dressed as school girls, but who am I to be picky? After the jump, you guessed it… wacky Japanese costume slideshow time, courtesy of the 2011 Tokyo Marathon.

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