In the summer of 2015 I stumbled across an article about an American who ran the London Marathon dribbling two basketballs, setting a new world record. I looked at his time of 4:10:44 and thought; "I could do it quicker than that". So I decided to ask Guinness World Records for permission to challenge for the title. They accepted my application and so begins 18 months of training leading up to London 2017 when I intend claiming the record for Britain! Although this blog will be freely available online I'm going to keep it fairly quiet until after I've done the Silverstone Half and have a better feel for the challenge I've set myself. So here we go!
Apart from a three mile trial I did with the children's mini-basketballs some weeks ago, today was my first long run attempt with two (full size) balls. That first 3 mile test was tougher than I expected and I lost control a number of times. Today it was wet and there were leaves and sticks littering the path around Norman Park. However, I was really pleased with how it went. I only lost a ball once and that was right at the end when I was squeezing past a gate. I did 3.38 miles in 28:11 which is well inside the pace I would need to run to break the record. Of course I would have to keep that pace up for another 23 miles! but it's a good start. The two balls that Molten sent me to test were both fine. I'll train with the two different balls for a while before I decide which to use for racing. The Silverstone half marathon people have agreed to let me run their race with two balls on March 13th so that is my immediate training target. I know I can do it, it's just a case of how fast I can do it and how much it takes out of me. Once I've completed this race I will have a better idea of how realistic this record attempt is. If I'm happy I can do it, it's at this point I will approach the charity I think I will run for during my record attempt at London 2017 and talk to them about publicity opportunities.
I felt a bit awkward in the park today, worried that the many people in the park might think I was a bit of a dick or just an outrageous show-off. Small children were pointing and adults were saying 'yes dear'. I overtook three other joggers going clockwise round the park which must've been a bit demoralising for them although I've no idea how far the were going. An Alsation pup got a bit excited at one point and jumped around in front of me wanting to play ball but I kept control ok. Overall very happy but got very dirty hands.
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