Wacky Sporting Champions

Guinness World Records has a new ebook dedicated to "Wacky Sporting Champions," including the basketball spinner from Benjamin Fingerhut's documentary, Breaking and Entering. I wonder if any jogglers made it in there?

Rocky's road: Another joggler in Toronto

(Photo: John Chou)

There's a new joggler in town. Adrian Horvath (a.k.a. Rocky), pictured above with marathon world-record-holder Paula Radcliffe, borrowed my joggling beanbags this morning and managed to go three minutes without a drop.

I'd better watch my back, because Adrian just ran the NYC marathon in a PB time of 2:45, one minute faster than Lance Armstrong.

The day after the New York Marathon, Adrian ran into Radcliffe, who was looking pretty happy after her big win in the Big Apple. Between us, Adrian and I have met both the women's the men's marathon world-record-holders within the past month.

Niagara Velomobile Happening

Here's some great video from this weekend's Niagara Velomobile Happening, hosted by Reg Rodaro at his farm near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Ray from Bluevelo was kind enough to take our Mango up there for us, along with several other models. What an experience it was to ride in a peleton of velos.

In this video you can see me in the Mango driving behind a WAW and Ray shooting the video from a Quest.

I did some final marathon test pacing, so now I just need to stay healthy and rest up for the big joggle.

The Reebok 'Joggler' ad

Setting the world record for joggling a marathon is not easy, but I do think joggling fits in well with Reebok's Run Easy campaign. My joggling training is mostly at an easy pace and I'm always having fun doing it.

Note to Merriam-Webster: Where's "joggling"?

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added nearly 100 new words to its 11th edition. Below is a partial list ... but where's "joggling"? They have "joggle" listed in their online dictionary, but it's only defined as "to shake slightly." It's time they joggled their definitions to include the greatest sport in the world.



1. agnolotti
2. Bollywood
3. chaebol
4. crunk
5. DVR
6. flex-cuff
7. ginormous
8. gray literature
9. hardscape
10. IED
11. microgreen
12. nocebo
13. perfect storm
14. RPG
15. smackdown
16. snowboardcross
17. speed dating
18. sudoku
19. telenovela
20. viewshed

Weird knee injury

Here's the start of the Toronto Father's Day Run for prostate cancer research. Look at the dork juggling!

Three days after my humiliating parkour hurdling injury, my shin is still massively swollen from knee to ankle. I also have a very strange knee injury that allows me to run without pain (although I haven't ventured out on an actual run) but I can't walk up or down stairs properly, and it hurts when I stand up or sit down. As long as I can run, I'm happy. I don't need to sit down.

Joggler's parkour career over before it started

Back in March I wrote this post about being a klutz when I'm not joggling or juggling.

I further proved this point yesterday after work in a painfully unsuccessful jump over a parking lot barrier. The casual shoes I was wearing were too loose. As I jumped up to hurdle the metal barricade my shoe flopped around a messed up my take-off and the next thing I knew my foot caught the edge of the metal and I crashed ignominiously to the ground.

I would have been embarrassed were it not for the excruciating pain in my left shin, which took the brunt of the impact. After hobbling to the subway the trying not to whimper out loud on my trip home, I went to a walk-in clinic to get the damage assessed.

There was a big gash in the shin about 8 cm long, but it wasn't deep enough to warrant stitches. It feels like I might have torn something in my knee, but it's too hard to tell with all the swelling around the surface wound.

So for now, I rest, and contemplate my future now that parkour has been scratched off my Things To Do Before I Die list.

Introducing the Magic Slimming Pill

When people find out that I joggle and chase world records, and that I work as a personal trainer with Fitness At Heart, they often ask what the secret is to losing weight.

Here it is, the Magic Slimming Pill:

1) First, you eat your Magic Slimming Pill (a Jelly Belly in the flavour of your choice will do).
2) Next, you do some type of cardiovascular exercise every day. and ideally some strength training twice a week.
3) Then you eat moderate portions of healthy food frequently, including vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains and lean protein. Avoid trans fats, too much fat overall, heavily processed carbs and other mass-manufactured crap that poses as food because it tastes good. Don't drink too much alcohol, unless you're at your best friend's wedding or your own wedding or have another good excuse to do so.

Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Our current North American society is not designed for this type of lifestyle. In order to take advantage of the Magic Slimming Pill, you need to go against the grain of society, which has been designed to keep us as static as possible by shuttling us around in motorized vehicles of one kind or another and inventing devices to keep us sedentary.

We also live in a world where processed food is the most convenient to obtain. When I walk through the supermarket or convenience store, I often wonder what percentage of the total food in the store is healthy. My rough estimate for a supermarket is maybe 10% or less and for a convenience store, maybe 1%.

The magic in the slimming pill is daring to be different. Be a maverick: get regular exercise and eat real food in moderate portions.

In The Long Run

A couple of weeks ago at the Toronto Reebok Run Easy event, I met Lee Hewitt, a web editor at the Toronto Sun. Lee, who recently qualified for the Boston Marathon, writes a great running blog on - you guessed it - the Toronto Sun website.

The blog also has a great name: In The Long Run. I'm not sure if Lee intended this, but this is a line from the excellent Rush song, Marathon:

It's a test of ultimate will
The heartbreak climb uphill
Got to pick up the pace
If you want to stay in the race
More than blind ambition
More than simple greed
More than a finish line
Must feed this burning need
In the long run...

Lee published a nice photo of my custom Sport Juggling
Co. joggling beanbags in his latest entry, and will soon be running an interview
(I hope I didn't say anything stupid).

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.

Toronto Raptors' Mo Pete joggles

Apart from it being my birthday yesterday, the main highlight of the day was showing Toronto Raptor Morris Peterson how to joggle.

We were at a Reebok event to launch the brand's new Run Easy campaign and http://www.goruneasy.com/ website. As part of the promotion, some Reebok-sponsored celebrities (for some reason, I was included in this category) went for a short run along the Toronto waterfront "at the speed of chat" and spoke with reporters and several dozen Running Room employees.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I was up front joggling next to Mo Pete, fellow runner Predrag Mladenovic and Rosey Edeh from ET Canada, who is a former Olympian and world-class 400m hurdler.

Mo Pete was watching me joggle and asked to give it a shot. I handed over the Sport Juggling Co. "Joggler" beanbags and Mo immediately started to joggle! He was even better than Evan Solomon. It turns out that we both learned how to juggle when we were nine years old. I was seriously impressed that he could joggle right off the bat, but then again, he is known to have better-than-average hand-eye coordination.

Way to go, Mo! I got him to sign my Reebok Run Easy t-shirt, where he wrote "Joggle Easy!!"

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.

Reebok Run Easy event

Tomorrow morning, I'll be participating in a Reebok event in Toronto for their new Run Easy campaign. I don't have many details, but I've been told to bring my joggling beanbags and be ready for a 2K run "at the speed of chat."

Joggling with five

Owen Morse joggling with 5

How hard would it be to joggle a marathon with five beanbags? I put this question recently to American joggling legend Barry Goldmeier, who joggled his way through "most" of a marathon several years ago with five beanbags. His finishing time was about six hours.

Barry emailed me a couple of days ago to let me know that my stroller-pushing marathon record is soon being challenged by U.S. marathoner Michael Wardian. I already knew this, but was excited to hear from Barry, one of my joggling idols. I'm hoping to get some pointers from him on five-ball joggling (no balls jokes please) because the few times I've tried it, I found it very difficult to sync up the tosses with the running.

How to recover from a joggling marathon

My recovery has gone well. Here are my six steps to a successful joggling marathon recovery:

1) Walk around as much as possible after the finish: This was no problem for me since I was rushing around meeting up with family, doing interviews and walking a fair distance to lunch.

2) Move arms around as much as possible: Lauryn wanted to be carried a lot, so that acted as my arm cooldown.

3) Keep eating and moving around: Ate a huge lunch, walked around some more, then went on a train ride on an old diesel train. This involved walking up and down between the cabins and hoisting the kids around to help them see the view.

4) Drink wine: My theory is that it helps relax the muscles, and I' m sticking to it.

5) Sleep well: Saturday night wax one of the best night's of sleep, ever. Those Marriott beds are heaven.

6) Take a week off from running, but keep juggling: Check.

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.

Home again ... now what?

I'm back home recovering and wondering ... what next?

Before I write up an article about the race, here's a snippet from the Salt Lake Tribune's online edition:

Just short of a world record

Joggler Michal Kapral came within a minute and a few seconds of the world
record by finishing the Salt Lake City Marathon in 2:53:28.

The record for "fastest marathon while juggling three objects" is 2:52:15,
set at the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2006 by Zach Warren.


On Saturday, Warren clocked in at 2:57:02. Kapral and
Warren stayed with each other for most of the race and alternated leads. From
miles 12-15, Warren had the lead. Then Kapral was ahead for the next two miles.
For about five miles, the runners were even until Kapral took advantage when
Warren took a water break. At the 22-mile mark, Kapral took off.


"At the 24th mile, everything went blank. I was hallucinating. I just
couldn't move forward," Kapral said. "Focusing on juggling, it did help me
relax, but at some point, it does get frustrating. I just wanted to throw the
balls on the side of the road."

Warren hit that point of frustration, too.

"It's psychological warfare," Warren said. "It's so tempting to give
up. I was feeling terrible at mile 12." Even though there is
a rivalry between the runners, there's also respect. "It was
a really good battle," Kapral said. "It was back and forth."

Elite athletes coordinator Larry Barthlow said Kapral would have gotten a
world record Saturday if it wasn't for the altitude.

"He probably lost five or six minutes because of the altitude," Barthlow
said.

Two days ... DON'T PANIC

Today's plan: Eat carbs, drink water, avoid twisting ankle or dislocating shoulder

Reebok sent me my new gear today and it looks amazing. Unfortunately the new running singlet and shorts weren't ready, so I'll be joggling in last year's yellow and gray kit.

The forecast for Saturday in Salt Lake is a high of 14C and scattered thunderstorms. Let's hope the storms scatter somewhere else during the race.

Thanks for fellow joggler Anders Kierulf, who also happens to live in Salt Lake City, for the link to this article in today's Salt Lake Tribune.

Three days to go ... aaaah!

Three days away from the marathon. Questions on my mind:

1. Will this be my last joggling marathon?

2. Will I sleep in on marathon morning and miss the start of the race?

3. How much does 1,300 metres of altitude affect a joggling marathon record attempt?

4. Will I finally beat Zach in a head-to-head joggling duel?

5. Will I drop a ball at the start of the race?

6. Will I do something embarrassing that will be immortalized in a documentary film and on national Canadian TV?

7. Is marathon joggling inherently embarrassing or heroic?

Four days to go

Today's joggling plan: 6 miles home from work (4 miles at marathon pace)

Yesterday I did an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune. The story should be appearing in Friday's paper. The reporter also interviewed Zach and the race director, Scott Kerr.

Conditions for race day look excellent for a record-breaking joggle: High of 10C, cloudy, 30% chance of showers.

Things should be interesting on the race course. The documentary film crew will have two golf carts covering the joggle-off, and CBC TV is planning to use a motorcycle.

Here's the race video from last year's Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The Joggler makes two appearances at 2:48 and 0:37.