When the Around the Bay Road Race signed me up with an elite number (yes, The Joggler managed to get himself classified as an elite – a breakthrough in recognition for the sport) they put "Joggler" as my profession on the form. This gave me a good chuckle since I have yet to gain a single penny for my efforts (excluding the many thousands of dollars in donations to A Run For Liane). But someday, who knows, I might get a good sponsor.
I recently put a pitch in to Wrigley to see if they want to sponsor me as the ultimate multi-tasker. I offered to chew gum as I run a marathon while juggling.
And now for some joggling tricks. You can do pretty much any three-ball trick while you're running, but some of them work much better than others because of the natural arm swing that goes with the running motion. Plus, you can add some extra fun stuff when you're in motion.
1) The Hydro Wire High Toss: This is one of my favourites. When you're joggling down the street toss a high ball up and over a hydro wire and resume joggling when the beanbag comes down on the other side.
2) Mills' Mess Zig-Zag: Mills' Mess, a pattern where you continually cross and uncross your arms as the balls float around in an infinity sign, works really well on the run. If you run in a zig-zag pattern, it works even better.
3) The 3-Up Running 360 Pirouette: This one is really hard (for me, at least). You toss all three balls high up in the air, then jump up in the air and twirl around in a 360, like a figure skater. Right at the landing you catch the three balls and resume juggling. If you want to see what a juggling pirouette looks like standing still, check out this hilarious video by Jason Garfield.
4) The Road Sign Bounce: Find a good solid road sign and toss a ball forward into it as you're running towards it. When the ball bounces off pull into into your three-ball cascade and keep running. You can also do this one sideways into walls.
Someday I'll get these onto YouTube. There's not nearly enough joggling on YouTube.
I recently put a pitch in to Wrigley to see if they want to sponsor me as the ultimate multi-tasker. I offered to chew gum as I run a marathon while juggling.
And now for some joggling tricks. You can do pretty much any three-ball trick while you're running, but some of them work much better than others because of the natural arm swing that goes with the running motion. Plus, you can add some extra fun stuff when you're in motion.
1) The Hydro Wire High Toss: This is one of my favourites. When you're joggling down the street toss a high ball up and over a hydro wire and resume joggling when the beanbag comes down on the other side.
2) Mills' Mess Zig-Zag: Mills' Mess, a pattern where you continually cross and uncross your arms as the balls float around in an infinity sign, works really well on the run. If you run in a zig-zag pattern, it works even better.
3) The 3-Up Running 360 Pirouette: This one is really hard (for me, at least). You toss all three balls high up in the air, then jump up in the air and twirl around in a 360, like a figure skater. Right at the landing you catch the three balls and resume juggling. If you want to see what a juggling pirouette looks like standing still, check out this hilarious video by Jason Garfield.
4) The Road Sign Bounce: Find a good solid road sign and toss a ball forward into it as you're running towards it. When the ball bounces off pull into into your three-ball cascade and keep running. You can also do this one sideways into walls.
Someday I'll get these onto YouTube. There's not nearly enough joggling on YouTube.
