Around 0.05% of the United States population has run a marathon, according to a Statistics About Running article.
That is a really small number.
The number is even smaller for those who have bear crawled a marathon. You know, on your hands and feet…CRAWLING.
Well, over the weekend on October 7, 2022, a Massachusetts gym owner, James Boria, completed a 31 mile bear crawl – the longest in the world. He's also the only person in the world to have done so successfully.
Boria got the idea from Devon Levesque, who bear crawled a marathon in 2020; however, Boria decided he wanted to push himself five more miles to claim a world record.
This ultimate test of endurance, mental toughness, and physical strength took place in New York City (from Brooklyn to Central Park), in 23 hours and 26 minutes.
That's 34 minutes from the cutoff time of 24 hours.
Check out the incredible highlight reel below.
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The training that went into nearly 24 hours of grit, pain, and perseverance was real. Real hard. But for Boria, the pain he went through to accomplish such a task was worth it, as he had a larger goal in mind.
The challenge and world record is not just for Boria's accolades. Instead, he focused his attention on raising money for The Hidden Opponent, an organization that brings awareness to athlete mental health.
Below is a video about the focus of Boria's world record. As he says in the beginning of the video, "the biggest battles happen in our mind."
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During Boria's training, he was able to raise over $10,000 for the organization.
In one Instagram post uploaded a month before the crawl, Boria wrote that "The hardest part about this training is that it’s lonely. 90 hours doing laps around a field, alone. No social life because you have to do another 4 hours tomorrow. It’s a quick recipe to lose your mind."
Prior to the world record, in the midst of his training, Boria started is his own strength and mental coaching inside of TJL Training: Boria Performance in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Boria Performance is taking on new clients for both physical and mental heath, and offers individual training, group training, mobility, and more.
Boria offers both physical and mental coaching options because he believes you can’t have one without the other. "I am not preparing my athletes or clients for sport, I am preparing them to deal with real life issues like stress, anxiety, and fear," said Boria.
To sign up to train with Boria, click here.