now listen here

now listen here, people, i am NOT taking ANYTHING away from Jason or Mandy - running a marathon is no joke and i applaud their training and ability to cross the finish line. we all know i could not do that.

what i'm trying to say is: what's cooler than running a marathon? ....hmmm....running a marathon while JUGGLING!


Juggling Marathon Runner Leads to Discovery of 'Joggling'

Over 45,000 people huffed and puffed through the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday. The event included incredible running feats by a double-lung-transplant patient, a rescued Chilean miner and Superman.

But none of these heroes compares to one racer, one who courageously bolted through NYC's five boroughs while ... juggling. That's right: one man, three balls, 26.2 miles.

We don't know who the marathon juggler is (photo, left), but a quick search revealed something we never knew existed: the phenomenon known as "joggling."



A combination of clownery and cardio, joggling is a sport Bozo could get behind if he traded in his big, clumsy shoes for a pair of adidas.

But it's not just the red-nosed set who is involved. According to Perry Romanowski, a 44-year-old Chicago-based joggler who created the blog Just Your Average Joggler, there are at least 1,000 beanbag-tossing runners worldwide.

Keep reading to learn more about this wacky sport and watch a video of Romanowski in action.


Juggling and running happen to be a perfect combination, since the arm motion of juggling syncs up naturally with a jogger's gait. If you're already proficient in the court jester's pastime, joggling should come pretty easy -- just haul ass as you lob your orbs.

"Each time one foot hits the ground, the bean bag on opposite side should hit your hand," instructs Romanowski (photo, left). "And look through the balls, not at them. Also, the faster you run, the faster you have to juggle."

Romanowski's love of joggling was born when he ran his very first marathon in Chicago and thought it would funny to juggle during the last half-mile before he crossed the finish line.

"It was so crowded in the beginning that I wasn't able to run very fast, so I just started juggling right away." Romanowski tells Asylum. "One of the other runners asked if I was going to do it the whole way, and I wryly said I would. Without practicing, I juggled 19 of 26 miles. That inspired me to try and juggle an entire marathon, and after that, I continued to joggle and still do it today."

So far, Romanowski has joggled in close to 100 races, including 30 marathons and two ultra-marathons. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest 50-mile run while juggling. (He and his beanbags clocked in at 8:23:52.)



For jogglers who prefer to race only against their own kind, the International Jugglers' Association hosts the annual Joggling World Championships, where runners are required to toss three items as they run.

For the sake of their fellow racers, we hope none of them juggles chainsaws.