Sarah Palin Challenges President Obama to Footrace

Apparently Sarah Palin isn't ready to quit racing against President Barack Obama. But it's no longer a presidential race we're talking about. According to Palin, in an interview with Runner's World Magazine, she's pretty sure she could beat the president in a race.

"I betcha I'd have more endurance," she told Runner's World in an article appearing in the magazine's August edition.

In Palin's interview with Runner's World, she discusses her love of running and shares some pretty funny stories about her running experiences. She even dishes a story we never heard during the election, about an embarrassing fall she took while running in the company of the Secret Service.

But most of the attention over the interview has come from her claim that she could take President Obama in an endurance race.

"[If] it were a long race that required a lot of endurance," she said, "I'd win."

If you don't believe the talk, Palin has the pictures to prove it. The magazine features several pictures of Governor Palin stretching in her running gear, showing off her runner's physique.

"If you ever talk to my old coaches, they'd tell you . . . what I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance," she told Runner's World.

As for the president, he's known to be something of a jogger himself. Yet as soon as Palin said she could beat him in a footrace, the media started diagnosing the likelihood that this was true. Among them was the Huffington Post, who pointed out that Obama hasn't yet completely kicked his smoking habit, giving Palin what might be a slight edge when it comes to endurance running.

But don't let Palin's run-related boasting fool you; she's not saying she could beat President Obama in anything.

"[People] have asked if I'd ever challenge him to one-on-one [in basketball," she said. "But look, he towers over me and I wouldn't be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I'd do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one."

Then again, this doesn't keep Palin for fighting for a little bit of an edge in the potential race. She told Runner's World that, if the race did happen, she'd like it to take place in Alaska, so "he can see the beauty of this 49th state." But we can't help but think that maybe it has at least a little something to do with her own advantage of knowing the terrain she's been running for as long as she can remember.

As for President Obama, there's been no word yet as to whether or not he'd take the former Vice Presidential nominee up on her challenge. But if he's worried about their race seeming at all political, he can rest assured Palin considers running a nonpartisan affair.

"It's a wonderful kind of diversion from the divisiveness that is politics," she said. "[Thank] God, it's nonpartisan."

Sources

Dan Simmons, "I'm a Runner: Sarah Palin", Runner's World Magazine (RunnersWorld.com)

Mary Pemberton, "Palin: I'd Beat Obama In A Run", The Huffington Post (HuffingtonPost.com)