We’re not sure if we should be impressed or appalled by Japan’s Hajime Nishi. Maybe we’re both. We like the idea of setting ambitious goals, and Nishi is certainly unafraid of reaching beyond his grasp. He’s aiming to complete 1,000 different marathons in 250 countries, which would sound ludicrous if you heard it from someone after he or she had completed, say, marathon number two. But he recently completed marathons 599 and 600. So well over halfway.
And he’s got a relatively low-impact style of slow running, taking up to ten hours to complete the 26.2 miles. (He claims to be the world’s slowest marathoner. He has another title as well; in 1997, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized him as the first person to run a marathon on each of seven continents in seven months.) So his well-used knees and hips might be able to take another 10,480 miles. That will help him achieve another goal, to be the oldest man to run a marathon. (The current record is held by Dimitrion Yordanidis, who was 98; Nishi hopes to run one at 100.)
We also like his attitude: according to Michigan’s Grand Haven Tribune, he carries a camera in his fanny pack and will take 100 or more photos of his route.
So, why the reservations? First, 1,000 marathons feels a little immoderate. But maybe not. Maybe we’ll learn that he’s unlocked a great secret, that by keeping a slow pace and stopping to smell—or photograph—the roses along the way, it is feasible to keep covering ground into your late 90s.
Um, and we have this quibble as well: Nishi calls himself an ecomarathoner, which means he runs to feel connected to the environment. Harmony, etc. And he picks up garbage as he goes. But if you’re not running to these marathons…if you’re hopping on a jet and flying to these 250 countries to run your ecomarathon…you’ve got a big-time carbon footprint associated with those few pounds of garbage you’re hauling across the finish line. And foregoing bottled water or using nipple Band-aids twice doesn’t really compensate for all that CO2.
