By Tyler Wishau – Joggler

Last fall, Qdoba Mexican Grill opened up a new restaurant in Des Moines. Qdoba rewarded the first 50 customers with a free burrito per week for 1 year. Qdoba has quality food and the portions are large. So, naturally, I waited in front of the store for 24 hours before the grand opened. 

During that time, I met that Qdoba’s C.O.O. who happens to be a half marathoner. He mentioned that sponsoring a joggler may be in Qdoba’s vision. I met with Qdoba’s marketing team, and I signed a 1-year contract to juggle and joggle representing Qdoba.

So far, I have joggled races in the Midwest, and performed a halftime juggling show for a Drake University basketball game. It has been a blast!

I am grateful that this untraditional sponsorship panned out. I think that if one is passionate and creative with their hobbies, there is always the potential of forming a symbiotic relationship if you meet the right person…and it may even help feed your family with burritos.

I hope that I am able to serve Qdoba well, and make them proud for taking a chance with me.

This past weekend, I finished 16th at the Wisconsin Half Marathon in 1:26:06 without any drops. Here is a story published in the Kenosha News.

Here’s another story about a joggling world record being beaten. Missouri State track runner Emily Beaver joggled her way into the Guinness Book of World Records by joggling a mile in 5:58.17. She beat the previous female mile record by 19 seconds.

It looks like a lot more runners are discovering joggling these days, and the records are getting more and more impressive.

It used to be that joggling was done by jugglers who picked up running. Now, there are a lot of runners learning to juggle.

The truth is, running fast is much more difficult than learning how to juggle. So I would expect that as more runners start joggling, the world records will get even faster.

Congratulations Emily!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of a shirt that had a stain that someone claimed looked like a juggling Jesus. It looked more like some random juggler, not religious to me. But it did bring up the topic of pareidolias. That inspired joggler Joe Salter to send along a pareidolia of his own.

It is a puddle that he saw while doing a joggling workout at his grandmother’s house. Do you see the clown?

Rachel Brill is a joggler attempting to be the first woman to joggle the whole New York Marathon. Here’s a little more about her.

What is the story of how you learned to juggle?

When I was around 10, my family took our first vacation to a Club Med resort. Club Med has a great circus program for both kids and adults (including a flying trapeze) and I totally fell in love with it. I bought my own juggling equipment and unicycle and started going to circus camps over the summer. I even auditioned for Circus Smirkus at one point but didn’t get in.

Now I have 3 beanbags on my desk at work, and it’s amazing the number of people who have come up to my desk and just started juggling with them. Since so many of my coworkers know how to juggle, I started a juggling club where we practice in the office a few times a month.

When did you start joggling?

I’ve just now started practicing joggling. Ever since I learned about the sport, it’s been my goal to joggle the NYC Marathon. I’m signed up for the 2013 NYC Marathon in November, and this will be the year I joggle it!

Why did you start joggling?

I started running in 2010 when the nonprofit I help run had an extra spot in the NYC Marathon that we couldn’t fill. I thought, why don’t I run it? I had never run more than 4 miles in my life, but I started training in July and ran the whole 26.2 miles in November. Since then I’ve run the 2011 NYC Marathon and a bunch of other half marathons and shorter races. When an article in the NYTimes showed up about joggling, multiple friends sent it to me – it was a no brainer that I should combine two things I love, running and juggling. During the 2011 Marathon, I met a joggler named Barry (Goldmeier) who did the whole race juggling 5 beanbags which was very inspiring.

How many races have you done while joggling?

None yet!

What kind of training do you do? How fast do you run?

I’m not very fast…my PR for a half marathon is 2:09 (running, not joggling)…but I’m okay with that. During the summer I do a lot of my training on the treadmill at the gym because it’s so hot out, but I’m not sure about joggling on a treadmill…

Do you eat a special diet?

I subscribe to a low carb paleo diet…meat, veggies, fruit. I don’t eat grains (except beer!) or much dairy. I’m mostly low carb unless it’s the day before a race – then I’ll eat smoothies to get my carb intake up.

How long do you think you will keep joggling?

I hope I can for my whole life!

Do you have any advice for would-be jogglers?

Practice and train. Sign up for some local races in your home town and then set up a training plan leading up to race day. Find a running/joggling buddy to run with you, or if you don’t like joggling with other people, you can do what I do and joggle to a meeting location where you can both enjoy some beers after the run. If you don’t know how to juggle yet, watch some YouTube videos and set aside 30 minutes each day to practice.

Where do you see the sport of joggling in 10 years?

As it gets more attention, I think more and more people will start to joggle. The idea of joggling had never even occurred to me until that NYTimes article about joggler Jack Hirschowitz.

Thanks Rachel! You can follow Rachel and her joggling adventures on Twitter – @rachelbrill

I found this story to be pretty sad. It’s not really about joggling (although dribbling a soccer ball is often called joggling) but this guy had the heart of a joggler. It’s also the kind of stunt I might be inclined to try.

Richard Swanson was attempting to dribble a soccer ball all the way from Seattle, USA to Brazil for the World Cup. He started about two weeks ago and was doing it, presumably because he liked the challenge, but also to raise money for a charity important to him.

Unfortunately, he was hit by a truck.

You can read more about him & his charity on his website Breakaway Brazil.

RIP Richard.  The world lost an interesting character.

Joe told me about this and it looks like you can see his segment on Youtube. Or better yet, right here on JYAJ.

I particularly like the interviews with his friends and family.

Congratulations Joe! It’s an accomplishment that certainly deserves to be publicized.

Joggler Robert Fowler did joggled his first half marathon with an excellent time of 1:53:03. Amazingly, he had only 4 drops.

Check out this video summarizing his experience.

He’ll be doing a Chicago race with me later this year.

I joggled the Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon last Sunday. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and while I didn’t set a marathon PR, I did accomplish a number of things including…

1. Fastest marathon as a 44 year old
2. Beat my last Flying Pig marathon time by 39 minutes
3. Finished my 34th marathon
4. Completed my 32nd joggling marathon
5. My 24th sub-4 hour marathon (7th in a row)

The trip

Cincinnati is 300 miles from Chicago and takes approximately 5 hours to get there by car. Flying is only a little faster when you consider the time required to get to the airport and go through security. Also, it’s significantly cheaper for two people. Shannon and I left early Saturday morning and were in Cincinnati by 2pm. The drive wasn’t bad but the stretch between Merrillville and Indianapolis where you lose NPR is pretty tough. I also had to get stop at the rest areas to stretch my legs a bit. You don’t want stiff legs the day before a marathon.

Flying Pig Expo

I was impressed with the size of the Flying Pig expo. It was held downtown at the Duke Energy Center and they had dozens of vendor booths. The place easily accommodated the thousands of runners. One annoying thing was the way they herded everyone through the expo so you had to pass every booth in order to pick up your t-shirt. I understand how that benefits the sponsors but I was in a bit of a hurry because I still had to get my run in to continue the joggling streak.

Before the Race

After getting my packet, we walked around downtown Cincinnati. It’s a nice place. Small, but still with a big city feel. I was particularly impressed with the improvements they made on the riverfront since the last time I had visited. The people who live there clearly care about making it a better place.

For my pre-marathon workout, I joggled over the river from Camden, Kentucky into Cincinnati and around the riverfront area. I got lots of smiles. It felt pretty good even if it was just a couple miles. My wife and I had dinner at a place in Kentucky. I had short ribs, some potato product and an excellent bowl of vanilla ice cream. A couple of beers also helped me relax. Even though I’ve done many marathons I still get a little nervous the night before.

Race day

We stayed across the river in Covington, so I had to walk about a mile and a half to get to the start line. I never really mind a walk like this to a marathon. It helps stretch the legs and calms the nerves. The hotel must’ve had a lot of runners because they set up a special table with bananas and water for runner. I liked that. The race started early…6:30am! Fortunately, I’m used to waking up early so it didn’t bother me so much. But 6:30am is early for any race. The sun was just coming up when we started.

At the start line I easily found my stating corral. Kudos to the organizers. Unfortunately, I couldn’t easily find the gear check and one of the “information” people sent me the wrong direction. While this was a bit frustrating, it all worked out fine and I lined up with plenty of time to spare. I chatted with a few of the runners around me, then got ready to race. I was going to make a final pit stop but the bathroom lines were super long so I decided that the feeling with either go away or I’d stop somewhere along the course. I did the latter around mile 2.

First quarter

The crowd at the start was excellent, cheering loudly as I joggled by. I know joggling is still an anomaly because the look of surprise and delight on the spectators is as intense as ever. It’s one of my favorite parts of joggling. My start was strong with the sound of Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band bouncing around in my head. I felt great with the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I had no goal in mind for the marathon and figured I would run however fast I could easily run. I had limited interest in causing myself too much pain. A PR was not in the cards for this race.

The first couple miles took us over the bridges into Kentucky. I appreciated the fact that we did this first instead of at the end like the last time I did this run. It was a much better idea. Around mile three I saw Shannon cheering from the sidelines. It was impressive that she was able to get up early enough to see me run by. I always appreciate that. She’s great.

We next ran back into Cincinnati then through the downtown area. This place was packed with spectators and I did trick after trick, smiling and waving at the wildly cheering crowd. It reminded me of running in downtown Chicago during the marathon. A few less people, sure, but great energy!

The rest of this quarter is when we started to climb some significant elevation. The climb from mile 5 to mile 6 was particularly steep. But hills in the beginning of a marathon are much preferred to ones at the end. I also looked at the elevation map and remembered that mile 6 was the maximum peak. This tricked me into thinking it was all down hill from there. I was wrong.

Second quarter

In the second quarter of the race, the feel good chemicals started to wear off and the crowds started to drop off. There were definitely people all along the way, but nothing like the downtown crowd. This part of the course featured lots of nature and some rolling hills. There were definitely some steep declines and inclines. Since I had done the race before I wasn’t completely surprised, but it did remind me of something…hills are tough!

At around mile 8 the marathoners split off from the people who were running the half marathon. This thinned out the crowd but it also made for fewer people for me to pass. Since I started out rather slowly I was catching and passing people most of the first 20 miles. It’s much more fun to be in a race where you are passing people than being passed. Just a tip for all you jogglers out there.

Third quarter

The first half of the marathon flew by. I wasn’t going particularly fast (1:48 half split) but the crowd was great and I felt excellent. I had my first drop when I attempted a high throw, high five trick with a little kid who was holding out her hand. I hadn’t thrown the Gballz quite far enough ahead of me and when it came down it hit me in the chest. I nearly recovered but alas, I dropped it. My one other drop was when I grabbed a piece of licorice that someone was handing out and I momentarily forgot that I was juggling. Oops!

The other notable thing about this part of the race was that there were lots and lots of rolling hills. Quite possibly the toughest part of the whole course.

Fourth quarter

Early in the race, I didn’t look at my times much. Instead I did tricks for the crowds, smiled brightly, and generally made a spectacle of myself when given the chance. When you don’t expect to PR you start to do things that ensure you won’t. Typically, during marathons I check every mile marker and do some mental math to figure out what my likely finishing time much. Not this one. At least, not until the last quarter of it.

At this point in the race the skies greyed and it started to drizzle. Not exactly bad running weather but when my clothes got drenched, I started to noticeably slow. Of course, the excruciating pain I began feeling in my muscles and joints also probably had something to do with my slow down. At mile twenty, I checked the clock and said to myself “only a 10K left. You can do that in less than 50 minutes.” Then when mile twenty two rolled around I thought, “Four miles to go. You run that distance all the time. You should be done in half an hour.” And on it went at mile 23, 24, and 25, each time getting slower. I really do not do well with running in pain.

Finishing

I can admit it. I didn’t finish particularly strong. The 3:45 marathon pace group who I was ahead of for 24 miles passed me and pulled away. I could not muster the energy to catch up to them. But when I saw the finish line, I did manage to speed up a bit and catch a few runners here and there. The stabbing pains in my upper thighs made this difficult but there were at least a couple marathoners who can say they got passed by a juggler.

As I crossed the finish line, they called my name and I did my standard trick where I threw the bean bag over the banner. Unfortunately, it glanced off my hand on the other side and I dropped it. Sigh. I almost never drop that trick.

But it felt good to be done. My 3:46:34 time was respectable and right around what I figured I would do. I shaved nearly 40 minutes off my previous Flying Pig marathon time and I was flying high from the chemicals coursing through my blood.

It started to rain a little harder so I quickly (as quick as I could) got my food, drinks, and gear. I met up with my wife and after I changed my clothes, we walked the 1.5 miles back to our hotel. It was painful but I was happy to be doing anything other than running.

Of course, the 5 hour drive back to Chicago was uncomfortable but I was happy when I returned home.

Marathon 34 is in the books.  Now, who’s going to be number 35?

Guest Author post by Debra Johnson

A pain in your joints can be quite a miserable way of life. Regardless of your activity, the pain can be persistent enough to keep your from enjoying yourself. Or at least, keep you from completing a task. Whether it is soreness in your elbows or a sharp stabbing pain in your knee, your mobility can be reduced as the pain can be nearly unbearable. There are ways you can keep yourself from experiencing these symptoms, however. 

1. Eating Right – Your body needs vitamin D and calcium in order to promote strong bones and healthy joints. By eating calcium-fortified cereals or other foods with a high level of these vitamins, you can help keep yourself active longer. Foods such as spinach could provide you with all of the necessary elements you need for mobility and general health. Eating healthier can have impacts on your body other than bones and joints and should be practiced anyway.

2. Exercise – Keeping your joints moving is an excellent way to keep them from stiffening up. Low impact activities such as swimming or cycling can keep your joints limber without sudden jolts that can be destructive to the cartilage in the underlying tissue. A regular routine of these exercises will help keep you in the game longer while promoting a healthier living. As weight can be a factor when it comes to the health of the joints that moves your weight around, a regular routine can help your body stay trim.

3. Daily Positions – As some of us are tied to sitting at a desk all day, the stress on the joints can get to be too much. The same can be said for those who are on their feet throughout the day. Alternating between positions periodically can help keep your joints from freezing up or swelling which causes or soreness within the joint. Periodically, get up and walk around for a few minutes if you are locked at your desk for extensive periods of time. Take time to sit for a few minutes each day if your task requires you to stand in position.

4. Avoid Carbonation – Many people do not know that carbonated beverages can eat away at your joints and cause pain. Try to avoid drinking carbonated beverages such as sodas to reduce the damage and the pain associated with that.

Care of your body becomes a full-time activity as you get older. Activities you took for granted at a young age could be next to impossible to do now. This is a fact of life and taking proper care of yourself from the beginning can help you maintain a certain level of activity. Keep your joints strong and healthy and you will be able to keep up with those around you.

This guest post is contributed by Debra Johnson, blogger and editor of www.liveinnanny.com. She welcomes your comments at jdebra84@gmail.com.

You want to learn how to juggle or even find some great new tricks to do? Well, the IJA has been sponsoring a juggling tutorial video contest and they just recently announced the winners.

Check them out!

217 Juggling Tutorials – For free!!

This is a great resource for anyone who wishes to improve their skills at juggling.

I remember when I first learned to juggle back in the 1980′s, there was almost no video instruction available. You had to learn everything from a book or figure it out on your own. It is no wonder that there are so many more excellent jugglers now than there used to be.

Here’s an interesting tutorial on learning to spin a pen.