We first heard about Joe “the Juggler” Welling from a story about his efforts to joggle the St. Louis marathon. Here is more about this amazing club joggling juggler.
Introduction:
JOE: I’m 47 years old. I’m a professional juggler living in St. Louis. I’ve lived here almost my entire life, with the notable exception of 2 years that I lived in Quito, Ecuador. I’ve been performing as a professional, comic juggler since 1985. For much of that time I had other jobs to make ends meet, including the 8 years I worked as an interpreter for the Deaf. I’ve relied solely on juggling since my return from Ecuador in 2001.
JYAJ – How’d you learn to juggle?
JOE: I don’t remember since I starting juggling very young. I think maybe I 
was inspired by an older brother. (I’m one of 10 siblings.) I learned most 3 ball tricks using billiard balls. That at least gives you very quick reflexes (like getting your head out of the way if a couple of balls collide even slightly in mid-air). One of my favorite tricks with the billiard balls was full claw juggling.
I remember clearly learning how to juggle clubs at the age of 16. I used Carlo’s The Juggling Book to make some home-made clubs and worked it for like 20 minutes before it clicked. (I had been juggling balls for many years by that time.)
JYAJ – When did you start joggling?
JOE: I never ran much at all before high school. I never thought to do both until some time after that. I think I first joggled about the time I started performing. (That was also about one of the times I got back into running–in 1985 or so.) Even then, I had such a strong preference for club juggling that I never did much of any ball joggling.
JYAJ – Why joggling?
JOE: Hmmm. . . I can only answer with the mountain climber’s rationale: “Because it’s there.” That’s not entirely true. I’ve never been a very good distance runner. I had a pretty quick 400 meter and did well at 300 meter hurdles, but in high school cross country meets where they only score the top 4 finishers for each team, I never even counted.
I’m just not so fast.
I think I started joggling as 1) an excuse for not running very fast, and 2) the fact that I’m a born show-off. I certainly dig the attention and encouragement you get when joggling. In the first half marathon I joggled, I almost felt guilty that in a crowd of thousands of runners, people single out praise for “the juggler”.
JYAJ – How many races have you done while joggling?
JOE: Just 3. I did a 10K many years ago (in the late ’80s), and this past year have done two half marathons. I expect I’ll do more. The only drawback is, when the weather is nice and most of these events happen, I tend to be busy with juggling shows–especially on weekends.
JYAJ – What are some of your favorites?
JOE: I did the 10K right when I quit smoking (yes, I smoked from about the age 18 until about 25). I ran one 6 mile run on my own, and then did an organized 10K with joggling. After the race, some radio program did a quickie interview with me and with a 50-something year old woman who had run the race sporting an elegant hairdo and full make-up. She finished the race without a lock out of place or a smudge. I finished, as always, drenched in sweat and well back in the pack.
Last fall, after a summer of doing very slow joggling runs where I struggled with pain and numbness from carpal tunnel syndrome, I did my first half marathon with club joggling. The reporter for the Post Dispatch, who is a runner spotted me during training and did a nice story about my plans. Before that race, I never even did my 5.6 mile run while juggling straight through. The carpal tunnel pain would be so bad, I would stop juggling for like 30 seconds about every mile to extend my wrist.
In the half marathon, I think the fact that there was an “audience” the entire time, I was determined to minimize those stops. After about 6 miles I realized that the pain and numbness didn’t get any worse than it felt at about 2 miles, so I did the whole thing without stopping. I had 3 drops (mostly when I was chatting with people and not paying attention) and finished with a time of around 2:15.
Prior to the race, just after the news story came out, a young lady from the Post made arrangements to videotape me joggling in Forest Park. She had a pretty hefty camera with an uncomfortable shoulder mount apparatus. She did the entire 5.6 mile loop with me on in-line skates lugging that camera. She’d frequently go up ahead of me and set up shots of me approaching or passing the camera. She edited it together with some fun music and made something very boring into a fun video. But you can see the video.
The more recent half marathon was in April. Since I had some poorly-timed injuries and illness, and I’m really undisciplined about getting out of the house when it’s cold or nasty, I did almost no running over the winter. I was contacted by a local producer from the local PBS station about maybe participating in a documentary they’re doing about stories of runners in the Go St. Louis Marathon and Half. I hadn’t heard from them again until a couple of weeks before the race, and they asked if I was still interested, so I decided I’d give it a try. I trained pretty hard for about 10 days, and did a video journal (just a quick daily entry about how the training was going). I wasn’t in very good condition, but I did the half.
It rained that morning. It varied from a light drizzle to pretty darn heavy. I was very worried about the clubs being too slippery. I put some of that wrap that sticks only to itself (the modern Ace bandage). In the starting line up, I juggled a little bit and moaned with dread–they felt soooo slippery. I had no idea if it would work. I think since I knew I was in bad shape, and the conditions for joggling were pretty rough, I took it extra slow. At any rate, I ran the entire race non-stop and I juggled straight through with just one drop. My time was 2:30. But it was quite a rush to have done it.
I haven’t heard anything about the PBS documentary. I don’t know it’s going to happen or not.
JYAJ – What kind of training do you do? Speed?
JOE: I’m terribly undisciplined. Lately, I’ve been doing some speed-training on the track with a large group. Trouble is, since I’ve gotten back to my busy season with juggling, that’s almost all I’ve been doing (and it’s just once a week).
Without juggling, I run a 6:30 mile (my time trial this year was actually 6:29). Last summer I did a 5 mile run in exactly 40 minutes. With juggling, I’m very slow. I usually run about a 10 minute mile when I run the Forest Park loop (5.6 miles). In longer runs, I go even slower. For the half last fall, through 10 miles I was a little under a 10 minute mile pace, but then I faded dramatically for the last 3 miles. I ended up at about a 10:30 per mile pace.
JYAJ – Do you eat a special diet?
JOE: I’m a junk food vegetarian–proof that vegetarianism is not necessarily a healthy diet.
JYAJ – How long do you think you will keep joggling?
JOE: I think I’ll stick with it pretty long–at least as long as I can run, unless the incipient arthritis I’ve got in a couple of fingers gets much worse. (Right now it’s more a nagging pain than anything debilitating.)
I’m so happy to see how well the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome responded to wearing a splint. Just over a year ago, when it first came roaring on, it was about the most intense pain I’ve ever felt. For a period of about a week, it was so bad I couldn’t sleep more than about an hour at a time. I really feared I’d need surgery. Wearing the splint, especially to sleep, makes all the difference in the world.
In the speed training I mentioned above, a 52 year old guy ran the mile time trial in something like 5:30, so I’ve got something to shoot for!
JYAJ – Do you have any advice for would-be jogglers?
JOE: Have fun!
That’s my attitude toward juggling in general. I don’t think there’s any innate talent other than the ability to enjoy it. I never feel like I “practice”. On the contrary, if I go a few days in a row without a gig or the opportunity to juggle, I miss it! I think in that way it’s similar to many other skills–playing a musical instrument, learning a foreign language, etc.
If you see someone who’s good at it, they’ve probably put in many thousands of hours doing it. You can’t put in that much time doing something you don’t enjoy doing. (OK, at least I can’t. I’m not very disciplined at all.)
Also, clubs are MUCH easier not to drop! They’re bigger, and they sweep out a huge arc. If your hand is anywhere in there, you can catch it. For balls or bean bags, your hand has to be pretty nearly at the exact spot at the exact time. Plus, I think tricks with clubs are a lot showier.
JYAJ – Where do you see the sport of joggling in 10 years?
JOE: I dunno. I still feel like a newbie to these organized races. In my experience, I’m usually the only joggler most people have seen or even heard of.
JYAJ – Anything else?
JOE: I forgot, I did participate in the IJA games one year, 1991. I wasn’t running at the time, and I was totally out of condition. Also, I never found anyone I could ask about juggling clubs for the races, so I tried bean bags. I think I only did the 440. I was doing all right until I dropped at around 300 meters. I was in such bad condition, that when I stopped to pick up, I simply couldn’t pick the ball up. I ended up being an also-ran.
Another thing: wind. Now that I know I can do all right in the rain or with sweaty hands, the last problem of conditions is the wind. I find the wind incredibly frustrating. For my last run a couple of days ago in Forest Park, it was really gusting hard. The park was nearly empty (it was pretty hot and the middle of a weekday), and at one point coming down a steep little hill, the wind just really whipped up and I was chasing the clubs all over the place (though I didn’t drop). I have a tough time not getting mad at the wind. (Yeah, not a good sign of mental health when you take weather phenomena personally!) I was cursing the wind pretty colorfully when another runner came by to pass and just grinned at me!
I keep thinking I need to experiment with some kind of low profile clubs. When I perform outdoors, even juggling on stilts, I find my torches are easier to handle in windy conditions that the regular clubs. They’re narrower and heavier in proportion to their profile. I use standard width Renegade clubs with a lot of tape on them, so they’re very close to one pound each. Still, at some point I’ll have to try something that I can handle better in the wind. I’ve lucked out with very calm conditions on my two half marathons, but in running on my own, the wind is something that can make me fail to complete an intended run.
Fascinating interview Joe! Thanks. You can learn more about Joe by visiting his website Joe the Juggler.
And see this page for more juggling runner interviews.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for a very nice interview.
I’ll give juggling clubs a go, but don’t see myself agreeing with your comment that it is easier than balls.
Havn’t been joggling for a while and it starts to show – I’m all out of shape again.
They are definitely not easier than balls. I tried joggling clubs and it was tougher.
Yeah, I tried clubs the other day after reading this. I started in my backyard to avoid dropping my PX3′s on the road. It was harder than balls, but then again I am just now becoming proficient in 3 club juggling patterns. I admire Joe for joggling clubs, it is a little trickier with or without joggling.
They’re much bigger and sweep out a huge arc. If your hand is anywhere in that arc, it’s an easy catch. With balls or bean bags, you hand has to be at a given point at the right time or it’s a drop.
I promise you, once you’re experienced at club juggling, they’re much easier not to drop.
Guess I better practice my club joggling then
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