Hi, welcome back to the Mohsin Salya blog – a place where I share tips and advice on all things running.
When you’re chasing down a marathon personal best, you may not have been able to stop and notice the famous faces surrounding you. Many more celebrities than we think are big runners and marathoners, and it’s interesting to see whether you match their pace or not. In this post I’ve put together some surprising celebrity marathon paces, as a source of inspiration for your next long run.
Obviously Pippa is most known for being the sister of British Royal Kate Middleton. However, Pippa is an active runner. Preferring to complete marathons in exotic locations, her personal best came at the 2015 Safaricom Marathon in Kenya. Finishing in 3:56:33, she was the seventh overall female. Most recently, Pippa completed the 2016 Great Wall Marathon in China. A gruelling course, she finished in 4:54:51 and was the 13th fastest female finish. Pippa is definitely an inspiration for getting out there and tackling a good variety of unusual marathons.
The Walter White actor from TV sensation Breaking Bad ran the New York City marathon back in 1985, finishing in the impressive time of 3:20:45. Speaking to the New Yorker, Cranston said he watched the race the year before and that inspired him to run it himself: “…old people, children, people in bunny costumes, people who’d lost their legs, this amazing menagerie of humanity,”.
A true inspiration for running to raise money for charity, Eddie Izzard did more than just one marathon. Izzard ran 43 marathons in 51 days after just five weeks of training, to raise money for Sport Relief. On his last marathon he recorded his best time of 5:00:30, after completing a 1,100 mile journey around Britain. He kept a blog of his absolutely epic marathon running too.
It came as no surprise when Oprah ran a marathon, due to her kicking off the ‘Anyone can do it!’ mentality back in 1994. Her Marine Corps Marathon time has developed special significance as one of those benchmark goals for man runners. So, if you’re convinced the Boston-qualifying time if out of reach for you, aim for the Oprah qualifier instead.
The famous actor ran the 2008 New York City Marathon to raise money for Parkinson’s, in honour of his father who suffered from the disease. Writing on the Huffington Post, he said he would “join thousands of other men and women to march in lockstep solidarity toward searing psychic pain and physical humiliation.” Reynolds’ time wasn’t bad either, considering he definitely didn’t consider himself a runner beforehand.
Hopefully these times and reasons for running will give you some inspiration when planning your next marathon or fundraising event.
Until next time,
Mohsin Salya