Ask anyone who has ever run a marathon and they will tell you it is one of the more difficult things you could ever do in life. Running a marathon, despite how old you are is something that is a challenge for anyone.
Over the years, people have run marathons in almost any way imaginable. Some have run marathons in the middle of a storm and others do it while wearing a costume.
Perhaps one thing that is surprising to many people is that there is one man, who many people know as Uncle Chen, who runs marathons while chain-smoking.
That’s right, he runs the 26.2 miles while lighting one cigarette after another and chain-smoking for the entire race. Recently, he was able to do this at the Xiamen Marathon and things didn’t turn out as he would expect.
Not only was he smoking a cigarette the entire race, but he also was 52 years old at the time. He finished the race in an impressive time of three hours and 33 minutes.
The problem was, that there were rules of the race that didn’t allow people to smoke while they were on the course. Since he was smoking while running, he was disqualified.
This regulation was implemented last year by the Chinese Athletics Association. They had several rules added to keep certain behaviors from entering the race. This included defecating or tramping on flowerbeds while running.
Uncle Chen went viral after pictures were shared of him running in a marathon while lighting a cigarette. This was two years ago, and he hasn’t stopped since.
After being posted online, many people couldn’t get enough of this man and his unique ability to run while taxing his lungs with a cigarette. Like it or love it, I would say he is here to stay.