I laugh at this story because I was once a smoker just like most people my age. We dabbled in it because it was socially acceptable at the time and we didn't take the health scares seriously. I think that most people these days realize that smoking is one of the worst things that you can do for your health and that is why we don't really see it so much anymore at least not where I live anyway where cigs are $10 a pack.
I don't know if this guy was doing it for publicity or to simply show that smoking is that bad for you (which is something I don't believe ) but he is capable of running a marathon, which is something that I think most people cannot do and he was smoking the entire time of the race.
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The absolute glory of this entire situation doesn't just end with the fact that the dude can be a smoker and run a marathon let alone smoke WHILE running the marathon... it gets even more alarming. This guy, who is known as "Uncle Chen" is 52 years old as well. Also, the fact that he was able to finish the marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes (thereabouts) is downright crazy. He placed 574th out of 1500 total participants in the race.
The reason for his disqualification is not some sort of bullcrap they made up on the spot, it is actually in the rules that include smoking on the track as a condition for disqualification.
There are some out there that believe that the rule for his disqualification was actually created because of him because this is not the first race that he has done this in. Apparently in two previous races, where he had a similar pace and overall time, he was smoking the entire race during those as well.
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If i were a runner in this race I would probably be annoyed by someone smoking during it but come on now, let's give the guy a break. How many other people in the entire world would be capable of accomplishing this? I would imagine that out of the millions of smokers that exist on the planet that only a handful of them would be capable of even walking that far in one go let alone run it.... let alone smoke DURING it.
So he has been disqualified for smoking during a race but I would imagine that he has a lot of fans around the world now because well, the world likes dumb stuff doesn't it? I know that I go out of my way to find dumb things on a daily basis so for me, I applaud you Uncle Chen and I hope you smoke at the next events as well. People might actually tune in just to see you do it!
