My 'Hour' of fame, and a CBC slideshow update

This is me after the final turn, 500 m from the end. I was staring so intently at the finish line, you can almost see fire bursting out of my eyes. At this point I still had no idea whether I would break the record, but seconds later my friend George Hubbard from Longboat Roadrunners joined me, yelling to the crowd: "He's got the world record!!!" Those were the sweetest words a joggling marathoner could ever hear. Thanks, George. (Photo by A Whole Lot of Soles.)

On Tuesday, George Stroumboulopoulos did a bit on The Hour about my record, and even put up a photo of me jogglng the Boston Marathon. George said if I could joggle the marathon with chainsaws next year, I'd get a spot on the show. I sent him an e-mail telling him that Evan Solomon joggled on national TV, and that if he has the balls to do it, I'd teach him. No response yet.

Also on the CBC, Peter Hadzipetros updated his joggler slideshow to include the new record. CBC.ca even put it back on their main page yesterday.

So what's next? A little rest, then I'm running the Detroit Marathon as a pacer for the U.S. women's Olympics Trials qualification time of 2:47 on October 21. I'll be running this one sans Sportballs.

My lucky break ... or should I say, no break?

After seven hours in a variety of waiting rooms at St. Michael's Hospital, it has been determined that my shin suffered "massive trauma" in my parkour mishap, but no fracture. So as soon as I can walk again without pain, I'll be ready to run.

I'd say the next world record attempt is a go.

When my name was called out by the triage nurse in the ER, I heard a voice behind me say: "That's the joggler! That guy runs marathons while juggling." I looked back to see a guy in the red shirt and glasses grinning away. Later on in the treatment area, we ran into each other again. It turns out that he was the editor who put together the CBC News: Sunday documentary. He had torn his Achilles tendon playing ball hockey. We had a good conversation about joggling, juggling, running, ball hockey, news editing and injuries.

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.