General David Petraeus is a “four-star” General who is presently the overall Commander of the Multinational Armed Forces in Iraq. In addition, he leads more than 165,000 US troops in Iraq. He is featured in one of the stories of the January 2008 issue of the Runner’s World Magazine.

He is 55 years old and a fast runner! He ran the 1982 Omaha Marathon in 2:50:53 hours and could run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes in his younger years. At present, he can still do 81 repetitions of push-ups in 90 seconds( almost one second per repetition!)

He is surrounded by his personal staff who are good runners. Officers who are newly-assigned to his Command are personally received by General Petraeus with a 5.7-mile run where he leads the pace with under six minutes per mile. The officers and men under him are inspired and impressed with his athletic strength and passion in running after having a metal plate in his pelvis and a victim of a gunshot wound on his chest due to training accident.

General Petraeus was quoted by the writer of the story on his motive of bringing newly-assigned personnel to his Command to a morning run as a reception rites. “I want to know how he’ll react and respond to the challenge, what his strength of character is…Obviously, I’m not just interested in whether someone is a good runner. But there’s something about an individual who has self-discipline, drive, basic fitness, and the heart to run reasonably well that indicates the kind of spirit that you are after in people who take on tought tasks”