Notes From Around the Joggling World
Here are just a few quick updates of things going on in the joggling world. More evidence that the sport is gaining in popularity. We may see a day when joggling gets officially added as an Olympic sport.
+ Julian Tam reports that he joggled the Bay and Back 5K race in Hamilton, Canada. He came in with a time of 27:37 in the most crowded race he’s ever done. Congrats on a great effort Julian! With some more experience you’ll be a sub 25 joggler in no time. He asked for advice on how to get faster. If you’re curious, check out these two jogglers posts.
1. 6 things to make you faster
2. Even more tips for running faster
Julian also graduated from medical school which just goes to show you how smart some jogglers are. He asked if anyone knew of any jogglers in Saskatchewan…anyone?
+ Barry Goldmeier reports that he did the Boston marathon this year. Even got his picture in the Boston Globe. He says that the race was fun and he made it the whole way without the streets getting closed. The life of a joggling marathon can sometimes be dangerous!
+ Quentin reports that he finally got his set of Gballz and went out for a joggle. On trying for the first time he says
“When I finally got around to reaching for that third ball, I was quickly able to realize how well juggling and running can work together. I couldn’t juggle for long without a drop or two, but this was all it took to sell me on the whole concept. I plan to keep at it.”
Great job Quentin!!
+ Greg Phillips reports from Canada on his initial joggling progress. According to him he’s done over 5 joggling workouts. And he’s shown some significant improvements already. The first one was an 8.5 K in which he had 58 drops. His second was a 10K with only 42 drops. By his fifth joggle he was able to go 8K with only 7 drops. Now that’s progress!! Greg actually came up with an interesting metric called the mP for measuring drops/meter. I’m going to do a separate post on this one.
+ Laura reports that she’s been joggling on the Mediterranean beaches of Spain. She says that she has Hong Kong joggler Bruce Foreman to thank for introducing her to the sport. She also recommends joggling with lemons if you are going near water. They float.
+ Dr. Joe Havlick reports that he’s finally tried joggling. He did a 5K and had about 20 drops. This is his initial training for the Philly Triathlon that he’s doing on Saturday. He may try joggling the third leg. Good luck Dr. Joe! Incidentally, he had put together an excellent juggling tutorial called Juggling is a Snap. He’s not sure how long it will be around but the hosting fees are paid through next March. Check it out while you still can.
+ Flurpy reports that his joggling in South Africa is making a real splash with the running community. You can see the extensive discussion about joggling over at this Runners World forum.
Around the US, Canada, Europe and Africa, joggling is truly an international sport. Are there jogglers from other places around the world?
Let us know you’re out there by leaving a comment below.
This Post Has 2 Comments
Perry,
Nice post.
Where do you get the time and commitment to keep going with this for so long? You must be the most devoted athlete not earning money for running.
I very jealous about Gregg’s drop record. I started 8 months ago, did something like 10 races, and my progress with joggling (drop wise, I can’t compete with running times, since im a very slow) is much slower.
Maybe it is because I started joggling before I could do a steady cascade, but great to the guys that has less hassles in avoiding the drops.
When learning, I found that the heavier the balls are, the easier you joggle. I’ve stuffed tennis balls with lead pellets (from shot gun bullets). You juggle much easier and longer, teaching the rhythm, but it is a terrible workout.
Love this site.
@Flurpy: I’ve been a five-ball juggler for about eight years now, and I’m working on six balls and five clubs (not at the same time!), so yes, the juggling part of the joggling isn’t my problem. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve only had one run with less than one drop per kilometre; my average for the last couple of runs has been about one drop for every 650m.
@Perry: It was a bit surreal to see Julian’s name up there. He was the President of our local juggling club (I’m the manager) until three years ago when he went off to medical school. We’ve exchanged a few emails over the years, but I hadn’t actually seen him in three years — until last night, the same day your blog post appeared, when he dropped by the juggling club meeting as part of a visit to Kingston prior to his move to Saskatchewan. We had a great time passing clubs and talking about joggling.
Greg