As the 2012 Summer Olympics in London wind down I couldn’t help but notice one of the sports being televised on the NBC Sports Network, race walking.

Now I really I don’t mean to belittle the athletes that compete in this event. It seems like it takes amazing discipline not to start jogging when another competitor started to close in on you. But isn’t this really just a half-ass marathon? And why choose to compete in this event over actual running?

Furthermore what possessed the IOC to keep an event like this over lets say Baseball or Softball?