From Outside magazine, this is the oldest 50-mile race in the country.

The runners, take your mark.

It was first held in the spring of 1963, and it was one of many that took place that year,

as part of President John F. Kennedy's push to make the nation more fit.

There was a perception at the time, as there almost always is, that Americans were getting soft, becoming lazy, that the incoming generation wasn't developing the proper grit, because they were so glued to their new TV screens.

Today, the JFK50 is dominated by runners, like any weekend ultra,

but back then it was more of a walk.

Boy Scouts did it in uniform, hom Homemakers took a few days off.

Even President Kennedy's brother, Robert, walked 50 miles along the canals of DC and his suit and leather loafers.

It was a thing. Anyway, the 50-mile craze quickly died down and became not a thing. And Kennedy's fitness legacy

ended up being the presidential fitness test.

The shuttle runs and chin-up sessions you hated doing in middle school.

But in many ways, those 50-mile walks were successful at raising awareness.

Since then, as a country, our understanding of the importance of fitness has never gone away,

even as we complain about the lack of it in our youth, now glued to Fortnite.

But did you know that Kennedy was actually stealing that whole idea of the 50-mile fitness test

from someone else?

Producer Robbie Carver has more.

There's a phrase you'll hear a lot in athletic circles,

usually uttered by men in the top tier of the fitness triangle as a way to

humble brag. They'll say they completed some feet or other off the couch, meaning

without having trained for the event.

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