This was one of the most physically demanding records I’ve ever broken. Practicing under exact conditions was impractical if not impossible.
It also required a ridiculous inventory of t-shirts.
The previous record for the most t-shirts worn for a half marathon was 82. I’ve had this on my list for a couple of years (first practice run Oct 2020) but I finally put on 10 t-shirts, 7 jackets, and a winter coat to see if I could not overheat while running. I got hot and sweated off a ton of water which gave me enough confidence to dig out my stash of t-shirts. That’s when I realized I had underestimated their weight. The jackets were enough to make me hot, but the t-shirts were much heavier. I then started adding a backpack with three 10-pound weight plates in them. The final touch was a Camelback worn on my front to provide hydration and a little weight balance from the backpack on the back.
Overheating was my biggest concern. I was sure I could build up the strength and stamina to finish the half marathon, but if I got heat stroke, it would be over. As luck would have it we had a cold, wet spring and most of my strenuous training runs took place in 30-40 degree temperatures and it was either raining or snowing. Weather conditions like those on race day would be critical to success.
In addition to hoping for cool weather, I got a couple of spray bottles I froze half with ice to have the witnesses accompanying me spray my head, arms, and legs down to provide evaporative cooling. The last measure I had in place was 2 large ice packs ready to shove up the shirts about 7 layers off the skin to attempt to ward off heatstroke. It was a cool rainy day and I didn’t end up needing them.
I also had to have help with putting the t-shirts on and taking them off. Once I have about 25 shirts on, the physical mobility of my arms is so restricted, that I physically can’t put any more on.
At the start, it took nearly 25 minutes for a team of 3 to get me fully dressed and almost the same amount of time to get them off at the end. Huge thank you to Patrick, Michael, and Becky!)
To qualify as a record under Guinness rules the half marathon needed to be completed in under 3 hours. I was shooting for 12-minute miles to give myself a little buffer and am glad I had it because I had several miles that ended up being over 13 minutes.
My official finish time was 2:47:55. Only 12 minutes to spare.
Besides the heat, I had to deal with the feeling of claustrophobia since I’m wrapped in 111 t-shirts that I can’t physically take off myself. I can’t move my arms, I can barely move my head. And if for some reason I was to get claustrophobic, not only would it take 30 minutes to get them off, I couldn’t even remove a single shirt by myself without help. It would be a nightmare for someone with severe claustrophobia. My right arm was also super sore from being pulled out from my body by 222 layers underneath my arm.
The bigger issue that I didn’t come across until I did a practice with 99 t-shirts was the circulation loss in my hands. With 111 t-shirts on it was bad. My arms lost circulation and after a couple of hours my hands swelled to what felt like twice the size, my normally loose wedding ring was a constricted ring, and I couldn’t even touch my thumb across my hand.
There was also a ton of stress along the spine that resulted in my back cramping up pretty severely about 9 miles in. And none of that considers the extra stress on my legs from the 40+ extra pounds I carried while running 13.1. It almost doesn’t even make mentioning the 1-inch blister directly on my right arch worth it, but that would usually be a major story for a run since arch blisters are rare and painful.
