Man completes Chicago Marathon in less than three hours while juggling

CHICAGO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A Canadian man ran the Chicago Marathon while juggling three balls and completed the race in less than three hours without dropping a single ball.

Michal Kapral, who also refers to himself as "The Joggler," finished the race in two hours and 55 minutes, as he attempted to top his "joggling" marathon world record of two hours and 50 minutes.

"My main goal was break my 2:50 record, but I had a somewhat secret secondary goal of joggling a marathon without a drop in under 3 hours," Kapral wrote in a blog post. "I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself to pull off the feat since it's far too easy to let it slip between your fingertips, especially with the crowds and distractions of a major marathon like Chicago."

While Kapral didn't achieve his primary goal, he managed to cross the finish line without a single drop despite some close calls.

"A few gusts of wind nearly derailed my no-drop goal. Once I caught an errant ball between thumb for forefinger, mere millimeters off a sure drop," he wrote. "Another time a wind gust blew my pattern out of whack and I joggled wildly for five or six strides trying to get the juggling cascade re-synced with my running. Somehow, I held it together."

Kapral uses lightweight beanbag balls for his races and tosses them about 50,000 times over the course of a marathon, only keeping the balls at rest when he comes to a complete stop to eat or drink along the path.

He's completed a total of 33 marathons including his world record time at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2007 and shouted triumphantly as he added a new accomplishment to his resume in Chicago.

"It was a 2:55:25 and the fastest joggling marathon ever completed without a drop," Kapral said. "Against all odds, the dream has come true."