An impressive marathon record

I have been thinking about running more than usual lately (see any of the 2G1L entries) and that has led me to looking at some running records.  Completely by accident, I came across the story of Shizo Kanakuri, a Japanese marathon runner who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

Part way through the race, Kanakuri became overcome with the heat of the day.  According to some versions of the story, he stopped at a garden party for an hour, drank some orange juice then left.  The country, that is. 

Too ashamed to admit he had quit the race, he returned to Japan without telling the Swedish race officials who considered him a missing person for the next fifty years.  It was only in 1966 when a Swedish television crew tracked him down, living in southern Japan that his status changed (despite having participated in the 1920 Olympic Marathon, in which in came in 16th, and the 1924 Olympic Marathon which he again failed to complete). 

This same television crew invited Kanakuri to return to Stockholm to complete his 1912 run.  He did, giving him a time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.