ALBANY – Gov. Paterson is running – and not just for re-election.
The governor, in a soon-to-be published interview with Runner’s World magazine, talks at length about his love of – and difficulties with – jogging.
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Paterson, who is legally blind, even posed for this picture in his Albany office – knobby knees notwithstanding – wearing a T-shirt from the Achilles Track Club, which encourages disabled people to become athletic.
Noting that he had relatively recently taken up jogging, Paterson said, “Running has given me the chance to be athletic.
“When I was a teenager, my friends played sports that I couldn’t play. So even though I didn’t get into running until my 40s, it got me in the game,” he continued.
Paterson, 54, told how his wife had used some reverse psychology to get him to run in the 1999 New York City Marathon.
“My wife, Michelle, is an avid runner. When I told her that I was thinking about running the marathon, her first thought was to tell me not to; she knew it would be the fastest way to get me to do it,” Paterson told Runner’s World.
“When I finished the race I had to go to the hospital. I’d become hypothermic,” he recalled.
Paterson, who runs with a companion because of his blindness, generally steered clear of talking politics in the interview, which will hit newsstands March 10.
Noting that he generally sets a moderate pace in a race, the governor said he likes to sprint the final leg because “for some reason, I find it amusing to catch people at the end.”
Paterson said he doesn’t think about politics during his runs but rather focuses on some of his favorite vintage music.
“I hum music to myself while I run, usually old disco tunes, or inspirational songs like ‘I Will Survive’ and the ‘Rocky’ themes, or some old TV themes like ‘Hawaii Five-O’ and ‘Secret Agent Man,’ ” said Paterson.