Smokin' The Competition!

This past Sunday, I was walking in New York's Central Park and was approaching a fellow who was in the midst of exhaling a plume of smoke from his half-finished cigarillo. As the smoke left his mouth and expanded, I was forced to breathe in the foul-smelling smoke as I passed him by (though, since I had been a smoker for some years, I must admit it was more of a non-foul smell). Having grown up accustomed to the cramped confines of New York's walking paths, I was used to the occasional 'smoke-in-my-face' occurrences and would have thought nothing of it....had this man not been smoking IN the runner's coral while waiting for the NYRR 'Run As One' 4-miler to begin! Starting my last minute stretches before the race was to begin, I looked at this guy with a sense of both awe and jealousy. Awed by his clear indifference to the hate filled stares of every single runner around him and jealous because the cigarillo looked so delicious, I continued to stare until getting bumped from behind by runners who, unlike myself who had gotten caught up ogling Smokey Joe, had heard the starting gun go off. As you may recollect from Monday's post, the race itself went well enough but when I crossed the finish line, eventhough it was over, my thoughts concerning the smoking runner weren't....not by a longshot.

Returning home with my dopeness wife CVSW (she had accompanied me in my domination of the race), I recounted what I had seen before the start of the race. Despite my pleas of only speaking the truth, CVSW remained skeptical and, with the smoke still lingering on my clothes, believed that I had succumbed to temptation and had in-fact consumed a cigarette myself. Asking what most people would assume is the obvious, CVSW turned my way and said, "Mr. Petes, how do you expect me to believe that there are people who call themselves both a runner and a smoker!?!" I knew she had a point and I resolved right there and then to show her that there was truth behind my words!

Surprisingly, it only took me a few minutes of interweb surfing to find the evidence to prove to my lovely (and speedy) wife that I was telling the truth about seeing the smoking runner. Published in the Los Angeles Times on August 4, 2008, Jeannine Stein's article, Smokin Athletes! Who Says Cigarettes And Sports Don't Mix?, discusses the fact that runners who smoke are not as uncommon as common sense would dictate. Citing the results of a Runner's World Magazine online poll, Stein writes that "2% of the 2,500 people who responded said they smoked, unbeknownst to their running friends. About 4% said they smoked but that their running buddies were in the know". While 100 people out of 2,500 is by no means a significant portion, it certainly is big enough to not expect odd glances whenever a runner does light up. Stein goes on to detail the origins of the Pikes Peak Marathon in Colorado to show how, historically, smoking has always had a place in endurance sports. In 1956, Arne Suominen, a nonsmoking Colorado doctor, issued a challenge to any smokers who thought they could beat him to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak and back down. According to historical record, while a nonsmoker won the race, a smoker did beat Suominen to the top but then decided to smoke a cigarette instead of heading back (no joke).

Eventually, CVSW succumbed to my insistence and accepted the story. While not even close to a majority, the number of runners who smoke does point towards one of life's interesting oxymorons. Despite my occasional longings for the delicious flavor of the tobacci as it travels into my lungs, I can say with confidence that you won't ever find me with a cigarette attached to my lips and a bib number attached to my shirt. At the end of the day, the only smoke you'll ever see originating from me is that which is left by my muscular thighs and blazing speeds!!