I've run the marathon several times, so I definitely don't look like the Great Ancestor!
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I ran my first marathon in Florida in 1985. I had never run more than nine miles.
A couple of years ago I ran in the LA Marathon.
My dad was a big runner. Growing up, I watched him do half marathons, and he was always running six or seven miles.
Plenty of people who are 38 have run really well in the marathon.
I love many places to which I have no connection, but identifying an ancestor, or someone I think is an ancestor, has taken me to places I'd never have gone to otherwise.
You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same.
I've always been fascinated by family ancestry.
I've had a lot of success over the years racing in New York, but the main point is that I feel the marathon is a different event, a lot more my event.
I've been running a full marathon every year for more than 20 years, and my record is getting worse. Getting older, getting worse. It's natural.
None of the longest-lived people ran marathons or pumped iron. They live exactly as their grandparents before them - surrounded by family and friends.