We’ve all made a bet with a mate at the pub before, lets be real here. It’s about as integral to the pub experience as shouting a round, playing pool, or yelling “TAXIIIIIIIIIIIII” whenever someone knocks over a drink.
It’s just that most of the time those bets are small scale and can be resolved on the night. Y’know, simple things like “I bet I can sink two balls with one shot,” or “I can so toss my hat up onto my head!” or “Bill Paxton absolutely was in Independence Day and I will lick the toilet floor if I’m wrong.”
See? Small. Manageable. Rarely go home with them.
Except one bloke by the name of Chris Henderson, who put $4,000 on the line with his mate one boozy night around four years ago, insisting that it is entirely possible for a human being to run a marathon backwards.
So he’s actually going to do it.
The Perth legend is currently in training to run the 42-kilometre Rottnest Marathon backwards. The whole thing. All the way. Completely backwards.
Henderson, who has already run four marathons using the standard “forwards” method, has been training for six weeks, building up to a distance of a half marathon ahead of the October 25th run.
The pair have also been raising money for BeyondBlue as a side motivation to the feat, with donations already topping nearly $4,500. Henderson has also pledged to give half his winnings to the fundraiser in the event that he does complete the challenge.
And if you think that running that far backwards can’t be good for your body, you’re absolutely right. Henderson is already feeling the physical effects in his legs.
“When I first started training, the pain was definitely in the calves but now it’s more in my thighs. But what’s most painful is my feet and toes which I assume is skeletal pain – I try not to think too much about that.”
“When you get to 15 kilometres your feet just start to throb.”
Henderson, who will be running with a volunteer partner who will act as his eyes, expects to complete the course – which is notably quite hilly, in case you thought his achilles didn’t have enough work as is – in around six hours.
Funnily enough, that time wouldn’t put even remotely near the world record for running a marathon backwards, which is a real thing that actually exists. That particular honour belongs to a Chinese man by the name of Xu Zhenjun, who completed the feat in 2004 in a blistering (literally) time of 3 hours, 43 minutes, 39 seconds.
‘Course if he feels like upping the stakes even further, he can try for the world mark for backwards marathon running whilst jogging, set by American Joe Salter in 2013 in a time of 5 hours, 51 minutes.
People are weird, man.
You can get on board with Chris’ EverydayHero campaign and donate to his cause right here.
via WA Today.
