The Tour de France of Unicycling

As many of you know, my joggling rival Zach Warren also holds the records for the fastest mile on a unicycle and the fastest mile on a unicycle while juggling. I learned how to unicycle when I was a teenager, for a high school circus, and I've been itching to try it again ever since. If I had the time, I would consider doing the Ride the Lobster race in Nova Scotia - an 800K unicycle stage race that starts on June 16. Naturally, I would do it while juggling. What would that be called, unicycluggling?

Tour de France dog crash

I guess his front wheel was not designed to withstand the impact of a yellow Labrador retriever.
This reminds me of the time I was joggling the Boston Marathon against Zach and was nearly tripped up by a little white dog that was running around on the course. It would have been a spectacular sight if I had fallen - juggling balls and fur balls flying everywhere.

Zach vs. Michal, Round 3?

No, Zach will not be unicycling against me in our next showdown as this photo collage might suggest, but we may end up in another joggling match-up. Zach is off in Dubai and Qatar doing some laughter research (seriously), but when he gets back to Boston sometime in August, he's going to let me know if he's game for a joggle-off at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on September 30.

Neither of us thought we would do another joggling marathon, much less against each other in the same race, but this sport is just too addictive.

Stay tuned...

How not to start your marathon training plan

When you are about to start training to break a new Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon while juggling three objects, do not smash up you knee - as I did earlier this week - while trying to jump over a parking lot barricade.

This will result is a lot of pain, and many lost training miles (and even more lost training kilometres).

Once my knee heals, I'll be rearin' to go. I plan to do several weeks of pure running before I start on the full-time joggling. I want to make sure I'm in peak running shape this time around to give me that extra speed edge.

Here's some developing joggling news: I got an e-mail from my Jolly Juggler rival Zach Warren, who is currently doing some research in Dubai and Qatar. He is unable to run because of his schedule, but said he'd be up for another joggling re-match at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this September if he's back in the U.S. We thought Salt Lake would be the end, but it's too hard to stop.

In another stunning joggling development, Barry Goldmeier pulled off yet another 5-ball joggling marathon in San Diego recently, finishing with a chip time of 5 hours and 40 minutes. If you think this is slow, try juggling five beanbags ... then imagine trying to run forward for 26.2 miles while you're maintaining that juggling pattern. Barry's been trying to convince me that joggling a 5-ball marathon may not be as difficult as I think. I'm not yet convinced.

This Sunday, my wife and I will be testing out two velomobiles with Ray from bluevelo: the WAW and the Versatile. I want to see if I can get the WAW up past 50 km/h. This will give us a feel for what these HPVs (human-powered vehicles) can do. If we decide to get one, it'll probably be the Mango, which is not available for testing right now, but is best suited for city driving and for shorter drivers (ie. Dianne, who is 5'1").

My 16 minutes and 7 seconds of fame

Here's a link to the CBC-TV video. Please enjoy it at my expense.

I laughed, I cried, I ate breakfast

I woke up this morning and took the kids down to watch daddy on TV. The CBC News: Sunday story was airing at 9 a.m. on Newsworld and 10 a.m. on CBC-TV. Assuming it would be near the end of the show, we started watching Newsworld at 9:30 and it was nowhere to be found.

At 10, I flipped over to regular CBC and there it was – the lead story! The whole family sat on the couch laughing (and me sometimes crying in embarrassment) while we ate breakfast. They did an unbelievable job editing the feature. Having made some short films, I know exactly how much labour is involved.

I was excited to be the lead story, but one viewer wrote to complain about this editorial decision in the comments section on the CBC News: Sunday website. Let's see if anyone responds to defend it. It's true, the world faces many grave problems, but let's for once put some fun first. I've spent my whole literate life reading the Globe and Mail from back to front – fun stuff first.

The story will air again tonight on Newsworld at 9 and CBC-TV at 10. Also, Marg from RunningMania.com (by far the best Canadian web community for running) has offered to record and post the story on YouTube. Marg just ran her first marathon today in 4:33 in Ottawa (congrats!), so her priority right now is to celebrate her achievement and get some rest.

NEWS ALERT: Joggling duel on TV this Sunday

For those of you in Canada, CBC News: Sunday will be airing their hard-hitting, investigative report on my joggling duel with Zach this Sunday at 10 a.m. on CBC TV and 9 a.m. on CBC Newsworld.

The producer tells me the piece turned out really well, and from my journalism background I know that this probably means it'll be embarrassing for me. But I'm the one who decided to run while juggling, so I suppose I can't complain. This story will be the most comprehensive TV coverage ever on the sport of joggling and may even spur a Canadian joggling boom. We're goin' mainstream, baby! (Or not.)

Salt Lake City Marathon coverage

Here's a good Salt Lake roundup from Park City TV. Zach and I are really trucking at 6 miles. I like how they filmed the clock before they showed us coming through. It was a pretty insane joggling pace at the start, but there was a long downhill section.

The Joggler on YouTube at last!

Zach's friend Emily sent along this clip (including her cheering) of me and Zach duking it out in Salt Lake. Note the film crews in golf carts. I'm hoping the golf cart footage makes it look like we're running faster - this video makes it look like we're out for an easy stroll.

Salt Lake City Marathon joggle-off

High drama at high altitude
________________________________
By Michal Kapral
JOGGLING REPORTER
________________________________________

Woo-eee, what a race it was! I mean, really, is there anything in the world more thrilling than an epic showdown between the world's top two marathon jogglers? Not in this reporter's unbiased opinion.

When Zach and I agreed to race each other in the Salt Lake City Marathon, each juggling three beanbags every step of the way, I knew we'd be in for a good match-up; I just didn't know how much of a true mental and physical battle this joggle-off would be.

Zach Warren of West Virginia is a joggling force to behold. When I first set the world record of 3 hours 7 minutes and 44 seconds for the "fastest marathon while juggling three objects" in 2005, he made quick work of it, running a 3:07:05 just two months later.

We both faced off in our first marathon joggling duel at last year's famed Boston Marathon, where Zach pummeled me in the Newton Hills and blasted to a new world record time of 2:58:23, as I stumbled in for a 3:06:45.

I knew 2:58 was within my grasp, so I made some adjustments to my training (namely, more joggling mileage) and got a hold of some lighter beanbags and reclaimed the world record at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon last September, joggling home in 2:57:44. But Zach stunned the joggling world again in Philly with a 2:52:15, and the stage was set for a joggling marathon rematch in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake was a great venue for several reasons: Neither of us would be on "hometown turf" (although Zach would be in his home country), I had run the course as a pacer and knew it was both fast and scenic, the roads were nice and wide – good for joggling elbow room – and the race director was very supportive. There were some concerns about the altitude, but we decided to go ahead with it.

Race day on Saturday, April 21, produced picture-perfect conditions for a joggler: partly cloudy, about 7C and no wind. When I arrived at the start at 6:15 a.m. I met up with the CBC TV crew, who would be filming the event with a golf cart, and the Chump Change Productions documentary film crew, who had two golf carts. I gave a spare Sport Juggling Co. "JOGGLER" beanbag to one of the doc guys in case one of us lost one.

Zach showed up sometime after 6:30 and we both did some juggling to calm our nerves and to warm up. I joggled around a bit and got some applause from some of the 7,000 runners lined up at the start. After a final gulp of Gatorade, Zach and I made our way to the elite entry at the front. I got major butterflies in my stomach as I gazed ahead at the winding road ahead, and the beautiful mountain peaks beyond.

The starting horn blasted at 7 a.m. and we were off. Toss, toss, toss, toss, toss, toss – a clean beginning for both of us. Relief. The first mile was downhill and we hit the mark in 5:45. The race continued on a downgrade until mile 5 and Zach and I stayed elbow-to-elbow on a very quick pace.

A few miles into the race, Zach had the first drop. As the inferior juggler, this gave me a little twinge of satisfaction and I couldn't hold back a grin.

After the fifth mile we wound through a gorgeous park. The air was fresh and crisp, but Zach and I were both feeling the altitude. My lungs were tight and I couldn't seem to to get enough oxygen into me no matter how deep a breath I took. Nevertheless, we were flying.

Zach pushed the pace through the uphill section from miles five to 12, and around the 12-mile mark we bumped into each other where there was a fork in the road. Zach veered right, thinking the course went that way, while I kept going straight, which turned out to be the right direction. Our little collision resulted in my first drop of the race, and also left me in Zach's wake. I didn't want to burn myself out trying to catch him as he was still pushing a zippy pace.

On a long climb uphill, Zach continued to gain on me. I was gasping for air at the top of the hill and it looked like Zach had about 30 seconds on me. My legs were starting to ache already and it wasn't even halfway. I seriously considered giving up.

But the marathon being the marathon – a long enough race that you can die, rise to heaven and be born again – I caught a second wind at about mile 15. Zach stopped for water and I cruised past him.

Once I was in the lead, I started to feel really good. My confidence was back, my legs felt fresh again and my breathing steadied. It was just me, the open road and three stinky golf carts and camera crews.

Over the next few miles, spectators were saying, "Go juggler!" in the singular, so I knew I had a decent lead on Zach. He later told me it was about 40 seconds. I eased off a bit from 6:20 per mile to 6:30 to stay on 2:50 marathon pace, knowing the real race would start at 20 miles.

Zach caught back up to me when I made my first pit stop of the race – for Gatorade – at about 19 miles. I was actually really happy to see him as it meant I would have someone to run with. A couple of times I tucked in behind him to draft, because a bit of a wind had picked up. We stayed neck-and-neck for the next three miles, neither of us saying much. We were both starting to get seriously frazzled and our pace was slowing down.

As we approached mile 22, Zach started babbling to me about needing to stop for water and I knew this was my chance to make a break. At the next aid station, Zach pulled aside like an F1 driver desperately needing a top-up and I zoomed on.

For some reason, I started bobbing my head around like Paula Radcliffe and found that it helped me keep in a trance; the head-bobbing made me forgot the agony in my shoulders and legs and I surged for the next two miles. My body was full of endorphins and the world record was still within my grasp.

By mile 24, the endorphins were exhausted and so was The Joggler. The real world began to recede and everything started to go blurry. My arms were juggling and my legs were running but I wasn't even paying attention to them. All I could think about was the pain and the urge to just stop, toss my beanbags into the nearest ditch and sit down at the side of the road for a good long cry.

And so it was that after 24 miles of intense joggling, I skidded abruptly to a halt in the middle of a wide, empty road. I heard the squeal of the golf carts' breaks. I needed a break. I needed to rest my arms and catch my breath. And I needed to think about how to do this, how to go on.

What propels a marathon joggler to carry on through those final miles of agony? It's the fear of being in limbo. Stopping before the finish line doesn't give you any closure. There's nowhere to go. You're in the middle of a road. You're nowhere. You're nothing. You can't just give up when you're nowhere and nothing. Moving forward is the only way to be somewhere and something.

After a deep, oxygen-deprived breath, I began juggling. Right toss, left toss, right toss, left. Now the legs, right foot, left foot, right foot, left. I started to recite "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss, which I had been reading to Annika at bedtime recently:

Up feet, down feet,
Here come clown feet
Small feet, big feet,
Here come pig feet

Everything remained a blur, but I was moving forward and that was the important thing. I concentrated on not passing out. The spectators became more numerous in the final mile and their cheering helped. With one mile to go, I knew the record was out of reach. I needed to run a sub-6:00 mile. No way. I was in survival mode.

Dianne, the kids and our friend Annette were screaming my name at this point but I didn't even remember. I thought I heard them but my brain wasn't able to make the right connections. And I ran. And I juggled.

I had another drop – my third, I think – sometime after mile 25. I remembered saying out loud, "Let's do this!" before I set out for the finish. As the road narrowed into the fantastic finale in downtown Salt Lake, when I knew I would miss the record, I did a few high tosses for the crowd and missed a ball for my fourth drop of the marathon. About 35,000 catches and four drops – not bad.

A quick sprint to the end brought me in at 2 hours, 53 minutes and 28 seconds – a personal best, the best I could have done, but one minute and 13 seconds shy of the record that I so desperately wanted.

For a fraction of a second when I crossed the line, I didn't know whether to smash the balls down on ground in frustration or to celebrate a race well raced and a joggling battle well won. But a final high toss and a low catch left me jubilant. I won. I raced it as I would have the Olympic marathon. I joggled my heart and lungs and arms and legs out.

Just over 3 1/2 minutes later, Zach came across the line, looking probably much the same way I did when I finished: like burnt toast. I read later that the famous juggler Steven Ragatz talked to Zach after the finish and asked him how he felt. Zach told him it was "like he had just drunk 10 cheap beers," at which point Steven told him he should have just stuck to drinking the beer and taken a pass on the whole marathon running thing.

Steven's words gave me a good laugh, but I wouldn't have traded this joggling battle for anything. I've been following marathon running races for almost a decade now and I think this was one of the most exciting duels there has ever been in the history of marathon racing ... in this reporter's unbiased opinion.

PRESS RELEASE: The Salt Lake City joggle-off

World Record Up for Grabs as ‘Joggling’ Rivals Face Off at Salt Lake City Marathon

TORONTO – The masters of multi-tasking, Michal “The Joggler” Kapral of Toronto and Zach “The Jolly Juggler” Warren of West Virginia, will race for Guinness World Record glory in a “joggling” showdown at the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 21, 2007.

Kapral, 34, senior editor at Captivate Network, and Warren, 25, a laughter researcher at Harvard, will each juggle three beanbags every step of the way as they race against each other along the scenic 26.2-mile marathon course.

The two elite jogglers have been tossing the world record back and forth in a fierce but friendly rivalry since Kapral first set the mark in 2005, with a time of 3 hours and 7 minutes.

Warren edged out Kapral’s record by just 41 seconds two months later at the Philadelphia Marathon and the stage was set for the first ever joggling marathon duel at the famed Boston Marathon. Warren and Kapral attracted international media attention in their marathon joggle-off, with Warren crossing the line first in a new world-record time of 2 hours and 58 minutes.

Kapral stole the record back with a 2:57 performance at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in September 2006. But Warren – with a documentary film crew at his side – again joggled the record back into American hands with a stunning 2:52 in Philadelphia.

“Marathon joggling is a funny sport,” says Kapral, “but this record is seriously difficult. Salt Lake is going to see a no-holds-barred joggling battle and I really want to take the record back.”

Both jogglers are raising money for children’s charities. Kapral is accepting donations for A Run For Liane in support of The Hospital for Sick Children’s new childhood cancer research centre in Toronto, and Warren, also a unicyclist and circus performer, is collecting funds for the Afghan Mobile Mini-Circus for Children, an NGO based in Kabul (http://www.unicycle4kids.org/).

Kapral, a father of two girls, holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest joggling 10K (36 minutes and 27 seconds) and also the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon pushing a baby in a stroller (2 hours and 49 minutes). He won the Toronto Marathon in 2002 (without juggling) in a personal-best time of 2:30. Kapral writes a popular blog called The Bloggling Joggler.

Warren is a Divinity graduate student at Harvard and has been studying the healing effects of laughter on children in Afghanistan. Warren holds the world records for the fastest mile on a unicycle and the fastest mile on a unicycle while juggling three objects.

Guinness World Records rules state that if the joggler drops a ball, he must return to the drop point before continuing. The balls must be juggled continuously in traditional cascade pattern.

HIGH-RES PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Contact: Michal or Dianne Kapral at T:416-690-8887 or C:416-573-3036, thejoggler1@gmail.com.

The Joggler's bloggling debut

Welcome to the drama, the pain, the heartaches, the headaches, the insanity and the joy that is joggling. This blog will track my journey as I attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for "fastest marathon (26.2 miles) while juggling three objects," and any future joggling feats.

On April 21 at the Salt Lake City Marathon, I'll be facing off against my great joggling nemesis (and friend) Zach Warren of West Virginia in the world's second-ever marathon joggling duel. The first battle took place at last year's Boston Marathon, featuring – you guessed it – Zach and me. Zach beat me in a world-record time of 2 hours, 58 minutes. Five months later, I reclaimed the marathon joggling title in my hometown, at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, shaving a minute off the record with a 2:57. Then, just six weeks later, Zach joggled an astounding 2:52 at the Philadelphia Marathon. That's the time to beat.

So the race in on, and the venue is set for the next joggle-off. Come along for the ride as I joggle for Guinness glory.