CANADA RUNNING SERIES / CIRCUIT DU CANADA
Boston Marathon Joggling Showdown Race Report
By Michal Kapral
TORONTO (April 2006) The Boston joggling showdown was the thrill of a lifetime. Until we crossed the start line I had never seen another joggler in action and the sight of Zach trying to negotiate through the huge crowd of runners really made me laugh, which made my eyes water, which made it even harder for me to dodge and weave through the mass of runners. Right near the start I also got boxed in behind two big guys wearing red shirts that matched my Exerballs perfectly and made it hard to see where the balls ended and their shirts began.
The spectators went absolutely berserk when they saw us running side-by-side. Anytime I glanced over at the crowd, I saw dozens, or hundreds, of people pointing at us and screaming encouragement. There was a lot of "Oh my god, they're juggling!!!" or "No WAAAAY!" or "There they are ... the jogglers!"
And I hadn't anticipated the reaction we would get from the other runners. Everyone wanted to talk to us and ask us about the sport, the rules and whether we were going to juggle for the entire race. One guy even ran up to us and said, "I just want you guys to know that you just made my day." One guy said, "At least do us the service of calling it 'ruggling.'"
Zach and I ran together until about Mile 17, the start of the dreaded Newton Hills. We were on 3-hour pace. I stopped to get Gatorade to fuel up for the hills and Zach kept running. I chased and chased but couldn't close the gap. After a while, I lost sight of him, but people in the crowd kept giving me updates: "He's only 30 seconds ahead. Go get him!" Then: "He's only two minutes ahead" and just before Heartbreak Hill I got the biggest heartbreak of all: "He's about five minutes ahead." When I stopped for Gatorade before Heartbreak, I dropped two balls into a big, sticky sports-drink puddle and immediately dropped them again when I tried to start joggling. It took another minute or so to wipe them off.
Coming down a hill into downtown Boston the race had thinned out considerably and I found myself all alone with hundreds of spectators cheering madly on either side of the road. This distracted me so much that I dropped, at which point there was a giant "OOOOOOOOOH!!!" from the crowd. Zach said the exact same thing happened to him.
About 24 miles into the race, the most surreal thing happened: someone's little white dog came sprinting onto the course and began running alongside the guy in front of me. People were going, "Whoa, look at that, a dog on the course!" and then they'd see me and go, "Whoa, and look at that, a guy juggling." Then the dog decided he wanted to run next to me (the allure of the three flying red balls?) and I had to swerve around trying not to trip on it. The spectators were now saying, "Whoa, a juggler trying not to trip on a dog on the course!" (or something like that - it was hard to hear exactly what they were screaming).
I finished in 3:06:45 and was ecstatic about breaking Zach's old record of 3:07:05, and amazed by Zach's negative-split 2:58:23 on the gruelling Boston course. I think everyone underestimated Zach's running ability. We had about the same number of drops (about seven or eight each), although I think I tensed up a lot more during the first 10 miles when the course was so congested. My shoulders were aching after the race.
Congratulations to Zach for cracking the 3-hour barrier and raising money for a circus for kids in Afghanistan (you can donate at www.unicycle4kids.org).
So what's next for the jogglers? A rematch! I've already challenged Zach to another joggle-off, this time on my home turf at my favourite record-breaking course: the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in September, 2006.
There was some amazing media coverage of the duel. We were in the Boston Globe's post-race marathon section, with photos, and did a live segment on CNN. We did long interviews on Canada's CBC Radio program 'As It Happens' and on NPR's 'All Things Considered.'
Thanks to Captivate Network for sponsoring my run, to everyone who donated to A Run For Liane (www.rememberliane.com) and to my wife Dianne for doing my PR and putting up with my incessant juggling in our living room.