Joggling the Chilly Half-Marathon

(Photo: Jamie Lynch)

Can I break my half-marathon joggling record of 1:23:49 at the Chilly Half in Burlington, Ontario, this Sunday? I certainly not as well prepared as I was for the Montreal Half-Marathon in 2009, but I did lose a good chunk of time in that race when I dropped a ball at the start, so it's still possible. I'll probably pace for a 1:20 and see what happens. This is the course where I set my half-marathon PB of 1:11:58 – good karma.

Montreal Half-Marathon

Thanks to Jamie Lynch for this photo at the end of the Montreal Half-Marathon. I'm still getting the paperwork together to submit the record to Guinness World Records. Jamie, incidentally, is married to Cindy of Running Skirts fame.

This Sunday, I'm going to race the 5K, without joggling, at the Bread and Honey Road Race in Streetsville, Ontario.

Half-Marathon Joggling Record Established in Montreal

Success! I set a new half-marathon Guinness World Record yesterday, joggling the beautiful Banque Scotia 21k de Montreal course in 1:23:49.

I dropped a beanbag right at the start line and probably lost about a minute after kicking the ball off the side under the barricade. I had to ask one of the spectators to hand it back to me and by the time I jumped back into the race, I was behind a huge mass of slower runners. In the end, it probably helped me, since the slow start allowed me to finish strong. I dropped once just past the 10K mark and that was it. Much of the route is ont the Gilles Villeneuve F1 circuit, which makes you feel like a race car as you cut the tangents over the red-and-white stripes.

Congratulations to Tara Quinn-Smith for setting a new Canadian half-marathon record of 1:12 and change, and to Matt Loiselle for winning the men's half-marathon championships it 1:04.

SPIKESmag.com Interview

Here's an interview I did with SPIKESmag.com - a U.K.-based athletics magazine -- as a lead-in to the Montreal half-marathon record attempt this Sunday.