If the Candidates Can Make Time to Exercise, Can't You?

By , SparkPeople Blogger
The presidential campaign is a hot topic of conversation these days. Everywhere you go, you’ll hear folks talking about the candidates- their stance on the issues, how they are handling the pressures of public scrutiny, or even what they had for dinner last night. But what about their fitness habits? Do the candidates take time to take care of themselves by exercising regularly?

A recent issue of the Wall Street Journal Magazine features an article about Governor Sarah Palin, who has always been a runner. She was running 7-10 miles a day before she got pregnant, and since her latest child was born, she’s worked back up to running 3 miles every other day.

In the summer, sometimes she’ll run as late as midnight (since there are 19 hours of daylight in Alaska at this time of year), or in the afternoon in the winter when it’s already dark outside. She also snowmobiles with her family regularly.

Senator Barack Obama has been a runner for a long time and also lifts weights regularly. His fitness habits have made headlines, and a recent Wall Street Journal article questioned whether Americans felt Obama was too fit to be president!

President Bush was an avid runner (and really fast at a 7-8 minute mile) until knee problems forced him to curtail his running and take up biking instead.

Many people use "lack of time" as the reason they don’t exercise regularly. But I would challenge that everyone has time in their day for some amount of physical activity, if you’re willing to make it a high enough priority. Some days it might only be a 10-minute walk around the neighborhood before it’s time to take the kids to soccer practice. But as long as you get into the habit of regular exercise and realize that some days you’ll have more time than others, then you can more easily make it a normal part of your day.

Regardless of your political affiliation, I think examples like the ones above prove that if someone can spend most of their day running the country (or campaigning to become the next person to do so) and still find time to exercise, we should be able to do the same.

What do you think?

Photos: from Wikipedia Commons