Posts Tagged ‘michael wardian’

The Amazing Wardian

The elite runners who made our 2012 Olympic marathon team deserve all the accolades they get, but one marathoner who didn’t come close to making the team deserves a moment in the spotlight as well.

Michael Wardian is a talented distance runner, but he is better known on these pages as the guy who holds the world record for the fastest marathon run in a superhero costume (a 2:34:56 dressed as Spiderman), and the former record-holder for the fastest marathon while pushing a stroller (occupied by his son, Grant).

This weekend Wardian did something worthy of a superhero. On Saturday, he ran in the Olympic marathon trials, finishing in 62nd place with a 2:21:50. On Sunday, he ran in the Chevron Houston Marathon, finishing in 16th place with a 2:31:17.

“I just like to show people you can do more than you think you can do,” Wardian said. “That’s a pretty neat thing. I have all the responsibilities that everyone who’s not a professional runner has. I have to go to work in the morning. I have a family. And I can still come out on the weekend and make a good effort and run a marathon.”

Man Wins Marathon While Pushing Stroller

Zac Freudenburg and Michael Wardian both set out to break Wardian’s record for running a marathon with a baby stroller. Little did they know they would both break the record, and finish one-two overall in the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Freudenburg and his 10 1/2-month-old son Liam covered the distance in 2:32:10, shattering Wardian’s previous record of 2:42. Wardian bettered his own mark, coming in second with a 2:34:37.

Freudenburg and Wardian both described what it’s like to run elite-level speeds with a baby.

“When he starts making noises, it makes you more relaxed,” Freudenburg said. “You are dying at the end, but it’s fun. You don’t want to push yourself like you might normally because you don’t want to pass out and lose control of the stroller.”

Wardian said his 11-month-old son, Grant, slept through most of the race.

“He was digging it,” he said. “He woke up after the turn and started to make some noise. I was a little scared I was going to have to fish out the sippy cup and some puffs. But he was a solid little dude. At the end, I was just running to get him home. It’s a whole different aspect with a child. You don’t want to bounce them in potholes. It’s just a whole other dimension.”

I don’t think it’s that different. I’ve had some races where I thought I was going to have to fish out the sippy cup and some puffs.

“He doesn’t care how fast I’m going,” Freudenburg said. “Sometimes if he’s a little fussy, I give him a cracker and he seems fine.”

I think that works for runners of any age.