Is Gary Johnson the Fittest Presidential Candidate Of All Time?

Gary Johnson is operating a distant third on this yr’s presidential race, however pit the Libertarian’s athletic achievements in opposition to any present or previous candidate, and it could be no contest.

The 2-term New Mexico governor has accomplished 17 marathons, and his PR of two hours and 47 minutes blows away John Edwards’ 3:30 and George W. Bush’s 3:44 occasions. Others left within the mud embody Mike Huckabee (4:33) and Al Gore (4:54), together with vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin (3:59) and Paul Ryan (4:01). 

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No different main presidential candidate has ever accomplished an Ironman triathlon, in accordance with Dan Berglund, the general public relations supervisor for Ironman. However Johnson, 63, has completed 4 Ironman World Championship races in Hawaii, together with a formidable 10:39 time in 1999. 

Johnson has additionally scaled the best mountains on all seven continents, together with Mount Everest—on a damaged leg that wasn’t totally healed. 

All that have will turn out to be useful as Johnson makes an attempt to make an important climb of his life: up from his present 9 p.c common within the nationwide normal election polls to fifteen p.c.  That’s the mark he must safe a spot on the large debate stage with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump—Base Camp, in Everest phrases. 

However that summit simply bought somewhat harder to scale. Final week the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe requested Johnson what he would do in regards to the war-ton metropolis of Aleppo, Syria if he was elected President—to which a puzzled Johnson replied, “What’s Aleppo?” 

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Although Males’s Well being spoke to Johnson shortly earlier than the MSNBC look, the general public apology he issued following the flub falls in keeping with his philosophy on battling adversity.  

“Athletics has taught me that it’s all about placing one foot in entrance of the opposite,” Johnson says. “Life is about setbacks—which means that something that may go improper, will go improper. You would possibly as nicely plan on that. It’s the way you cope with setbacks that in the end determines success. I believe so many individuals expertise failure and crawl up in a ball and quit.”

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Johnson didn’t surrender after his failed 2012 Presidential bid, when he garnered simply 1 p.c of the vote. As a substitute, he teamed up with former Massachusetts governor William Weld to marketing campaign on each his enterprise acumen—he constructed a building outfit from scratch right into a 1,000-employee, $38 million firm—and fiscally conservative credentials, like slicing taxes 14 occasions whereas governor of New Mexico.  

Nor did Johnson give up after a 2005 paragliding accident left him with a number of damaged bones.

“Medical doctors stated, ‘You’re going to have to provide it up,’” says Johnson. “However six months after that accident, I bicycled from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Napa Valley.” (The trip lasted roughly 1,500 miles.)  

With that form of resume, Johnson couldn’t assist however giggle when Trump’s physician, Harold Bornstein, lately stated the 70-year-old can be the “healthiest particular person ever elected to the presidency.” 

“I do get a chuckle when Donald Trump says he can be the fittest president of all time,” Johnson says. “Properly, c’mon. That’s who I’m. That’s my life.” 

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Although Johnson has considerably curtailed his operating after struggling frostbite on his toes post-Everest, he nonetheless tries to get in at the least 6 hours of some athletic exercise per week throughout election season—down from his traditional 15 to 21 hours per week. 

The North Dakota native additionally adheres to wholesome consuming habits. “I don’t do sugar, and I haven’t had a drink of alcohol in 29 years,” he says. “When you think about well being and wellness, a lot of it comes from what you eat. I at all times say ‘Your motor is simply nearly as good because the octane that you simply’re feeding it.’” 

(Constructing your greatest physique requires drive, sweat, and the fitting meals. Gasoline Your Fats-Burners With 101 Muscle Meals from Males’s Well being.)

Johnson has used marijuana, although, to handle the ache after his 2005 paragliding accident. Not surprisingly, the socially liberal Johnson is a proponent of legalizing pot, and he’s the best—so to talk—polling presidential nominee to ever accomplish that.

Whereas at residence in New Mexico, Johnson shares cooking duties along with his fiancée, actual property agent Kate Prusack. An avid skier and street and mountain biker, she’s additionally his coaching accomplice on the slopes, roads, and trails. 

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She’d higher be, or else they’d hardly have time collectively lately.

“It’s a requirement, I might say,” says Prusack, who met Johnson on a gaggle bike trip in 2008. “When he will get residence from being on the street, that’s what he desires to do. If I didn’t try this with him, I wouldn’t see him.”  

Prusack, who has been engaged to Johnson since 2009—“It might be a White Home marriage ceremony” if he will get elected, she says—is assured that her accomplice is essentially the most energetic man to ever run for president. 

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“George Bush, I do know, rode a mountain bike,” Prusack says. “However he made a remark to Gary as soon as that he and I truly trip mountain bikes within the mountains.” 

If Johnson doesn’t rating the keys to the Oval Workplace in November, he has a backup gig lined up: He’s planning to trip the Continental Divide and log greater than 2,700 miles from Banff, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico—the longest off-pavement biking route on the earth. 

“I found a very long time in the past that being as match as I may presumably be day by day was one thing that made my life work,” says Johnson. “So I’m as match as I will be day by day of my life.”