A lot of people run marathons because it gives them a sense of accomplishment. Being able to finish a marathon requires a lot of effort and preparation. Finishing a marathon takes commitment. Finishing 113 of them in a single year takes, well, we have no idea. A lawyer from San Antonio named R. Laurence Macon knows all about it.
The 67-year-old Macon is the current Guinness World Record-holder for most marathons completed in one year by a male runner. He finished the New Year’s Double Marathon in Dallas on Saturday, which was his 113th race of the year. That separated him even further from the previous record-holder, South Korea’ IM Chae Ho, who ran 106 marathons in 2009. According to Reuters, Macon even once conducted a conference call for a multimillion-dollar civil case while running the Boston Marathon.
“The opposing counsel didn’t seem to be bothered by my heavy breathing,” he said.
Macon has run seven marathons in a week on more than one occasion. Imagine running a marathon a day? Runners train all year just for a race like the Boston Marathon, and then you have Macon running a marathon an average of every three days.
“I generally change clothes in the car,” Macon said when explaining that he oftentimes finishes a race and goes directly to the airport to travel to another.
“I have left specific instructions that if I die on the course, my friends are supposed to drag my body down the rest of the course and across the finish line,” he said. “And then lie about the results.”
I don’t know what’s more impressive: Macon’s world record or what this woman had to do when she finished the Chicago Marathon. Either way, Macon’s story has me wondering if I’ll even go up and down the stairs in my house 113 times over the course of the next year.
