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One ran a half marathon wearing red boots and a Viking helmet.
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The race, called Hell on the Hill, consists of a loop course with a positive elevation gain of +13,100 m to be completed 60 times.
Well, this story could start as a joke where there is a guy who ran a whole marathon by crawling (that’s right, like children do, advancing with both hands and feet) who then set up a half marathon in his courtyard and at first there were him and a few friends doing it and now there are hundreds of people. Among them Astro Boy. No, not him exactly, but a guy running around in his red boots and a Viking helmet.
I would say that if they wanted to show that you don’t have to take yourself seriously and that you can joke even about running races, they succeeded perfectly. But, as always, let’s go in order.
A pair of red big boots
The race is called Hell on the Hill (“Hell on the Hill” or “Hell Hill”) and consists of a dirt loop course with a positive elevation gain of +13,100 m to be completed 60 times. Astro Boy, oops, the one with the boots, has a crossfit YouTube channel so he’s definitely in shape, but even so, he doesn’t seem to have really not struggled to run it.
Also because the cute, cartoonish boots weigh 1.6kg. Each. So supposedly like 5 running shoes (6, in some cases). By foot!
Starting from even further back, however, it is necessary to explain what these crazy big boots are: the inspiration is that, as already mentioned, of Astro Boy, the main character of the manga written and drawn by Osamu Tezuka and published in Japan from 1952 to 1968 but which became hugely famous worldwide, where it sold 100 million copies.
This is Heber Cannon and he is paired with Marston Sawyers in the Buttery Boys. They’re into crossfit and crazy stuff, like buying this reproduction of the Astro Boy boots put on sale by MSCHF months ago under the name BRB – Big Red Boots – and became an instant worldwide success, so much so that a new batch was required to keep up with the demands. They cost $350 and are definitely not made for running in, much less a full half marathon. In fact, Heber, despite being decidedly fit – then practicing such a demanding discipline as crossfit – was at one point thinking of giving up.
The challenge
To be even more in character (not that of Astro Boy but rather that of Conan The Barbarian), Cannon also wore a Viking helmet-shaped headgear, complete with horns.
Everything is perfect, or at least in clothing. In the video they took of it he in fact looked very relaxed even if it took him a lot of effort to get to the finish line.
Of course, no world record or even the course, which, after all, has more of a goliardic inspiration than anything else.
Lots and lots of fun, though :)
(Via Hypebeast)