He can set a record for running through trash on Mt Everest.
Posted on 09/01/2019 3:40:32 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Ever since two-time Olympic 800 meter runner Nick Symmonds, 35, retired from professional running in 2017, he has kept himself busy checking off tough—and sometimes wacky—athletic challenges in his free time.
Last year, he announced that he wanted to become the first man in history to run a sub-4 minute mile and summit Everest. Then earlier this month, he ran the fastest known 100 meters run wearing ski boots, finishing in 13.71 seconds (the previous record was 14.09). While summiting Everest is still on the bucket list, his most recent challenge was a task most of us can relate to: running while dribbling a basketball.
On August 23, he set the fastest known record for a mile run mile while dribbling, finishing the distance in 5:29 at a track near his home in Oregon. That time beats the official current Guinness record set by North Carolina’s Colin Shaver in May 2018, 6:57, by nearly a minute and a half. However, the time Symmonds was really trying to beat, he said, was the 6:06 mile his brother, AJ Lapray, ran previously while dribbling a basketball.
While a 5:29 mile pace isn’t too demanding for Symmonds, who holds a personal best mile time of 3:59, dribbling a basketball while hitting that speed wasn’t easy. He told Runner’s World that instead of running a smooth, steady pace, he had to surge with the ball when it bounced ahead.
“The turns were especially challenging. I almost lost the ball a few times on the curves,” said Symmonds, who used his right hand to dribble. “I would have benefitted from using my left hand, but I’m just not that coordinated. I wasn’t so much dribbling as pushing the ball forward.”
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
DANG!
Too cool!
He can set a record for running through trash on Mt Everest.
He definitely traveled.
Remember when athletes STFU and just competed?
Reminds me of Pistol Pete...
NS can KMA. The little plick held a running event in our area and labeled it a “benefit competition”, for which a number of groups volunteered their time.
At the finish line after the event (I was up the line), I witnessed a corporate show & tell for his crappy caffeine gum.
It was a “corporate” event - not a benefit - and he got free services from the city (police and closed city streets) and numerous volunteer groups, including our radio club. I’m still fit to be tied.
I can’t wait til he comes back to town.
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