Governor's Husband Proves To Be One Tough Dude

by Tim Mowry - February 17th, 2008 - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, or "First Dude" as Alaskans have come to call him, survived a high-speed crash on Friday in which he broke his arm and had to be towed across the Chena River finish line in Fairbanks on Saturday after his snowmachine died. But he still finished the world's longest, toughest snowmachine race in fourth place.

Todd Palin has been winner and champion of the Iron Dog 2,000 mile race four times in fifteen years, including just last year. Gov. Sarah Palin runs marathons, and occasionally runs at midnight during the long summer days. Everybody is so impressed with Barack Obama playing basketball. I have raced (sports cars - not snowmachines) and I have played basketball. Racing snowmachines is definitely the more impressive feat. Just take a look at 1 minute of the Iron Dog race in this YouTube-Video to see the kind of pounding the racers take and think about doing this for 2,000 miles. Wow.

John McCain has picked a VP candidate that is NOT going to be boring. Gov. Sarah Palin, is a very tough and accomplished basketball player who was called the Barracuda when she played. She is still remembered for winning the Alaska State Championship with a foul shot in the final seconds despite playing with a stress fracture in her ankle. Her husband and high school sweetheart "First Dude" Todd Palin keeps racing with a broken arm after going to the hospital to have it set. They are nobody's pushovers. This is a cool family! Coming through under pressure and pain seems to be their standard way of dealing with the world.