A longtime runner celebrated her 40th birthday Saturday with a 40-kilometer run, Dumb Runner has learned—a feat that sounds impressive until you realize that 40 kilometers amounts to 24.9 miles, which falls short of a marathon by about 1.3 miles.

The runner, Sheila Broflovski, lives in Toronto, Ontario; as a Canadian, she uses the metric system, a fact that we will take into consideration before judging her too harshly.

“Forty miles, now that would have been a run,” is something an American runner might reasonably say upon hearing of Broflovski’s birthday run. “But I guess 40 kilometers is OK, seeing as how she’s Canadian and all.”

“I believe (Broflovski’s nationality) is what you would call an ‘extenuating circumstance,’” would be another thing you might say, as an American runner. “I mean, if I were Canadian or European or whatever, I would probably run 40 kilometers on my 40th birthday too, and not think twice about it.”

Reached for comment, Broflovski told Dumb Runner she had “a great run,” passing through some or her “favourite” “neighbourhoods.”

“I’m already planning to do 50K on my 50th birthday,” she added, a distance that is also significantly less than 40 miles.

“That will really be something.”

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