The Independent reports that Sunita Williams, the woman who will soon hold the record for NASA astronaut for the longest time spent in space, is slated to run the Boston Marathon next week as she orbits the planet Earth. She qualified by running in last year’s Houston Marathon, and she will attempt to make the 26K mile run tethered to a treadmill.
You know that the only reason the picky Boston Marathon approved Commander Williams is because of the unbelievable publicity it would generate. It’s not like she can win when facing completely different terrain than the 24,000 other runners.
We all love a good space story. Whether it’s the woman running in space or water discovered on another planet, we just seem to eat up anything extraterrestrial.
Some people might say that’s pathetic. I consider it a sign of our continued childhood sense of awe and wonder at the universe.