One woman has taken marathon running to a whole new extreme.
Justine Huang ran the New York City Marathon drunk on November 3. She shared her experience in several videos posted on her TikTok, one of which has since garnered more than 11 million views.
One of the videos — set to Imagine Dragons’ song “On Top of the World” — shows Huang, 26, downing glasses and beer, eating candy and excitedly greeting friends who showed up to cheer her on.
“Stay hydrated at the New York City Marathon!!! #nycmarathon #marathon #runningtok #drink,” she joked in the caption of the post, which currently has more than 65,000 shares and more than 4,000 comments.
After her unconventional marathon run, Huang told NPR that she drank “four or five glasses of liquor” and then “four or five half cups of beer” during the 26.2-mile course.
She explained to the outlet that she decided to take a much more relaxed approach to her New York experience after learning she had also been accepted to run in the Chicago Marathon – which took place three weeks earlier.
“I wanted to do my best for Chicago because I had a time goal to beat,” she said, referring to her previous marathon time. “That’s what I focused on.”
So when it came to NYC, she was ready to relax.
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“I wanted to eat all the food I saw and then drink everything the spectators brought. That was my plan for this race,” she told NPR, adding, “But I didn’t expect how much food and drink there would be.”
Runners on the course of the 2024 New York Marathon.
Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty
Stars who ran the New York Marathon
Huang also noted that her alcohol consumption was spread over several hours.
“This was over the course of maybe five or six hours. So I didn’t drink alcohol in a 30-minute span or so,” she told NPR, noting that she made sure to stay on top of her hydration.
“I also stopped at every water station the marathon offered. I would drink two cups of water and two cups of Gatorade at every stop,” she said.
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Huang finished the New York Marathon in 5 hours 36 minutes (compared to 4 hours 14 minutes in Chicago) and says she has “no regrets” about her run under the influence of alcohol.
“As a competitive person, I have the mindset that I want to run as fast as possible,” she told NPR. “But forcing myself to slow down this time — spending time with the spectators and friends who came to support me — made this experience a lot better than I thought it would be.”
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“I literally ran the whole thing with my best friend, and it was her first marathon,” she continued. “Being with her and seeing our friends who had been running around town all day looking for places to cheer us on made me so happy. I have no regrets at all.”
“I met so many cool people on the run,” she added.
This year’s New York City Marathon was officially the world’s largest marathon to date, with 55,646 total finishers coming from around the world, according to the New York Road Runners. According to CNN, the event – which spans five city boroughs – attracts more than two million spectators annually.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education