50-year-old Chinese man completes 42 km marathon while smoking cigarettes, netizens amused

Running a marathon is meant to encourage fitness and enhance general health. It takes dedication to train and a healthy lifestyle to complete a marathon. 
Marathon runners are without a doubt some of the athletes who are most concerned with their health. But a Chinese runner who goes by the name "Uncle Chen" has gained notoriety for smoking cigarettes nonstop while running a marathon.

We can all agree that smoking cigarettes make it harder to run. Running becomes more challenging if you smoke because you get less oxygen into your heart, lungs, and muscles. Nevertheless, on November 6, 50-year-old Chen finished a 42-kilometre endurance race in Jiande, China, while smoking the entire time, according to a global media report. 

Out of roughly 1500 runners that competed, he finished the marathon in three hours and 28 minutes, placing him 574th overall. And all of this while smoking a pack of cigarettes continuously.

According to the site, pictures of him originally went popular on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. His accomplishment was also recognized by the event organizers, who distributed his completion certificate afterwards.

Uncle Chen has already pulled off a similar bizarre prank. He was seen smoking multiple cigarettes while competing in the 2018 Guangzhou Marathon and the 2019 Xiamen Marathon, according to Running Magazine. 

Chen recorded a time of 3:36 in 2018 and a time of 3:32 in 2019. The 50-year-old reportedly took part in two 12-hour and 50-kilometer ultramarathons, according to the story.

Social media users have gone viral with images of Uncle Chen, denying the deed and expressing their disbelief. While some made jokes about it, others believed that such behaviour set a poor example. On Instagram, one user responded to the news by writing, "Sadly, this proves legit nothing." He would have fared better if he hadn't smoked, and I'm sure he is aware of this. His lungs were obviously screaming for aid, another person wrote.

There are presently no regulations that forbid marathon competitors from smoking while they participate.