In 2007, I broke the world record for the fastest to ever joggle 50 miles.  Many people ask if I was the only person to ever do it.  I wasn’t.  The previous record holder was Ashrita Furman who set the record in 1989.  Ashrita is an interesting guy who holds a number of world records including the world record for holding the most world records.  Starting in 1979, he has set or broken 390 world records and continues to set new ones every year.  

Breaking your world record

The thing about holding a bunch of world records is that there is always someone who will be inspired to try to break it.  While Ashrita has achieved 390 records, many of them have been broken. He currently holds about 133 so he’s used to people besting him.  Indeed, I was inspired to break his record when I discovered that the world record for the fastest Marathon done while joggling was out of my reach thanks to jogglers Michal and Zach.  In my first try I beat Ashrita’s time by over 30 minutes.  I was proud.  I’m still proud.  It is rare that you get to claim to be the best at something in the world and actually have proof of it.

Now, there is a new kid who is looking to break my world record.  On May 12, 2012 Thomas Gounley is going to make an attempt.  And he quite likely will beat it.  He can joggle a 5K in 18 min, has joggled a marathon in 3:20, and has already run a 50 miler and a 62 miler.    Of course, anything can happen but I anticipate to be world recordless on May 13, 2012.  Sigh.

Reality – the hardest tea to swallow

While I have mixed feelings about losing my world record overall, I’m happy to see Thomas set a new mark.  The world record is a source of pride for me but there are many other things in my life which make me happy.  Being recordless will not change that.  Indeed, being recordless will actually be inspiring.  One of the reasons I’ve had such a hard time getting motivated to train for the 24 hour (100+ mile) joggling world record attempt is because I haven’t been inspired.  Holding one record is awesome.  Holding two records is still awesome but not twice as awesome.

What to do when your record gets broken

So, here’s my advice to anyone who loses their world record to someone who did it better…set another one.  This is what Ashrita does and it’s what I’m going to do.  I know it will be a ton of work but I want to do this.  And I can do it (at least my brain says so).  It will not be easy but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

I wish Thomas well and we will be reporting on his progress as the date approaches.  50 miles is not easy but world records are made to be broken.

Joggle on!

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Incidentally, I found it interesting that his longest standing record was The Farthest Distance Traveled by Somersault – 12 miles 390 yards, set in 1986.   And one of his records that seems easily breakable is the Farthest Distance Gone on a Unicycle While Juggling – 1.75 miles done in New York in 2011.

One of the toughest things about getting in the Guinness Book of World records is that they make it really difficult to verify your record.  If you don’t pay to have Guinness officials come watch the event and verify it themselves, you have to submit videos, pictures, affidavits, and get media coverage yourself.  Then, it takes 6 – 8 weeks (or over 1 year) to hear back.  Also, if they don’t verify your attempt before you do it, they won’t accept your record.  It’s a bit frustrating.

However, they are not the only world record game in town.  I just got a copy of the Recordsetters Book of World Records.

On page 99, they feature my record.

It was much easier to get my record verified with them.  It’s a fun book too because they have all kinds of different records in there by lots of different people.  Some of the records are pretty silly and it’s not as “serious” as the GBWW but it is still pretty cool.

If you are having problems getting a world record certified by Guinness, you might try the Recordsetters Book of World Records.  You can follow them on Facebook.

Here’s an update on Bob Evans recent world record breaking performance.  He joggled the 5K race (and won) in 16:51 which beats the old record by 4 seconds.

You can see an entire write-up of the joggling world record here.

Also, be sure to check out the Catch It Early website for joggling races near you.

Well, it’s finally been done. After numerous attempts which we reported about here, here, and here, someone has finally broken to world record for joggling a 5K.

Congratulations goes to Bob Evans who ran a 16:51 in the Nashville Race for a Cure 5K. He actually won the race! Here are the official times.

Also, his wife Trish was joggling and she won the women’s division with a time of 20:23.

Wickedly fast times!! Congratulations Bob and Trish. I hope to get to joggle a race with you sometime.

In addition to Bob and Trish, there were actually 11 other jogglers in the race. They were part of a team from Vanderbilt University. You can see a video of the jogglers here. Jacob Weiss of team Catch it Early put together the group.

To learn more about the group go to Team Catch it Early.

While I received the certificate and was posted on the web site, it never felt like I had an official world record.

People would frequently ask about which book I was in and I just had to shrug. Unfortunately, Guinness doesn’t post every record any more.

Well, my brother sent me a message and told me that he saw my name listed in the 2012 book on page 213. And indeed it is. Here’s the picture.

It looks like there was big news at the Berlin Marathon yesterday. Patrick Makau broke the marathon world record by running it in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 38 seconds. This is 21 seconds faster than the previous world record. Wow!! Of course, he wasn’t joggling.

There are a couple of things about this story that I find interesting.

1. The world record is not the fastest marathon ever run. This was done by Geoffrey Mutai in a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds in the Boston marathon last year. Unfortunately for him the Boston course does not qualify so his time doesn’t count as a world record. That seems dumb.

2. Records keep getting broken. It seems to me in a sport like running, there isn’t much reason for records to keep getting faster. It’s not like new technology can give you a significant edge like in other sports (golf, tennis, baseball, etc). It’s not like there is new training techniques. I just don’t get it. Perhaps it’s just because there are so many new runners that the law of large numbers will dictate that there will be times farther and farther away from the average. hmmm

Fastest marathon

The article asks the question whether the world record will ever break the 2 hour mark. Former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie thinks that it will happen in another 20 or 25 years. Maybe, but I see no reason for that to happen.

Of course, predicting limits is always a silly activity because they inevitably are shown to be wrong. Perhaps the 2 hour marathon mark will be broken. Certainly, the 4 min mile was broken and if you can run 4 minutes for one mile, why couldn’t you do it for 26.2?

What will happen first?

Say jogglers, what do you think will happen first?

The marathon world record will be under 2-hours…or…
The joggling marathon world record will be under 2:30?

Hmmm.

I know I’ve been talking about joggling a 100 miler but for some reason I just haven’t done it yet. This year I was going to run one in Cleveland but I opted to focus on getting a good time in the Chicago marathon instead. I know, a pretty lame excuse.

But next year…I’m doing it.

Of course, I might be trying to break the world record if fellow joggler Tim Butler has anything to say about it.

According to this article, Tim is going to attempt his 24-hour joggling feat at the Yarborough Leisure Centre. I couldn’t discover whether this was an organized marathon or one that he is doing on his own.

Good luck Tim!

Tim and I actually had an agreement to let him make the first attempt at in September. But it looks like he hasn’t done it. I’m still inclined to let him try first however, I’m itching to do it (and I’m not getting any younger either). My plans are to find a 24-hr run to do in March or April or maybe sooner. No excuses this time.

Now, which of these ultramarathons should I do?

Maybe this one…Across the Years

or maybe this one…Peanut Island 24hr

Any suggestions?

I was starting the process of applying for a try at the Guinness World Record for long distance joggling and found this list of joggling records that Guinness accepts.  It turns out there is a bunch of them.  Unfortunately, there isn’t one for the 100 mile ultramarathon.  We’ll see if they make a new category or require me to break the 24 hour record.  I know Tim Butler is planning on breaking the 24 hour record this year so perhaps he’ll set a new mark.

Accepted world joggling records

Fastest 100m joggling with five objects – men
Fastest mile joggling with five objects – men
Fastest 5km joggling with five objects – men
Fastest mile joggling with three objects – men
Fastest 5km joggling with three objects – men
Fastest 400 m joggling with three objects – men
Fastest 100m joggling with three objects – men
Fastest marathon joggling with three objects (male)
Fastest 400m joggling hurdles with three objects – men
Fastest 110m joggling hurdles with three objects – men
Fastest 50 miles joggling
Fastest 10km joggling with three objects – men
Fastest half marathon joggling with three objects (male)
Fastest 100 m joggling with three objects – women
Fastest 400 m joggling with three objects – women
Fastest 5 km joggling with three objects – women
Fastest mile joggling with three objects – women
Fastest 400 m joggling with five objects – male
Fastest 1 km joggling with three objects – male
Fastest 400 m joggling backwards with three objects – men
Greatest distance joggling in 24 hours

Guinness exclusivity

This would be a much better post if I also included the actual times for these records, unfortunately, Guinness keeps their data secret. Quite annoying actually.

If you want to break a world record in joggling you have to apply for a claim number and they will then send you the time you have to beat. I don’t know why they just don’t publish the information for all to see.

Anyway, here is a list of some of the “unofficial” times that I could track down. I’ll add more as I get them. If you know of a record, let me know and I’ll add it.

3 ball joggling records

8:23:52 Fastest 50 miles joggling – Perry Romanowski (2007)
2:50:09 Fastest marathon joggling – Michal Kapral (2007)
1:23:49 Fastest half marathon joggling – Michal Kapral (2009)
0:36:27 Fastest 10K joggling – Michal Kapral (2006)
0:16:55 Fastest 5K joggling – Kirk Swenson (1986)
0:04:42 Fastest mile joggling – Will Howard (2003)

109.8 miles 24 hour joggling relay – Meike Duch and Andreas Lietzow (2003)

I don’t know what it is about Canadians and joggling, but they’ve got some fast ones. There’s Michal Kapral who holds the official world joggling record in the 10K, half marathon, and marathon distances.

Then there is Travis Saunders who has made a couple of tries at the 5K world joggling record.

And Tyler Wishau who dominated at the 2009 IJA Joggling Championships.

Let’s not forget joggler and future Canadian doctor Julian Tam.

New 3K world joggling record?

And now Adam Kellar reportedly has set what he believes is a world record for the 3K distance. His joggling time was 10:28.13.

I’ve never heard of another joggler doing the 3K distance so as far as JYAJ is concerned, we’ll consider his the new world record for joggling 3K.

Congratulations Adam!

Now, if only we can get track him down to do a joggling interview.

Congratulations to speedy joggler Michal Kapral for setting a new world record for the fastest half marathon done while joggling.

He came in at a blazing 1:23:49!

You can read his write-up here on his blog.

There is also an interview that he did with Spike magazine that you might find interesting.  In it, he gives a little more explanation about his world record for a marathon while pushing a baby jogger cart and how he gave up on his attempt to break the backwards running marathon record.

You know Michal, there is no record for the fastest backwards marathon done while joggling.