It wasn’t in a Batmobile but I ran a 5-minute 58-second mile with a baseball bat balanced on a single finger with the Boise High School track team cheering me on after I gave a short talk on having a growth mindset.
The previous record of 7 minutes 5 seconds falling wasn’t a foregone conclusion, however, since the day saw wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour and if the bat fell or touched any other part of my body, the attempt would be immediately disqualified.
I was worried about rain, snow, wind, and super cold weather. It turned out sunny, warm (40s), and the wind died down. It went pretty smooth until the last lap and as my arms started turning to jelly and the lactate built up in my muscles. With just over 200 meters to go the wind gusts flared up and it was all I could do to keep the bat balanced on my finger. It was bending over sideways at 30 degrees to stay on my finger and I was so worried it would either hit my body or the wind direction would change I would lose control. Fortunately, I was able to hold on a complete another sub 6 minute Guinness mile.
Thanks to Aaron and the track to the team for having me, Elizabeth, Sue, Paul, Dave for helping out and Jake for the bat!
