Kansas City Marathoner Knits 12-Ft. Scarf During Race Since Running 26.2 Miles Is Just Boring

David Babcock hopes the feat will set a new Guinness World Record

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If you think running 26.2 miles is hard enough, imagine doing it while knitting a scarf.

David Babcock, a graphic design professor at the University of Central Missouri, knitted one that’s a little over 12-feet long in the 5 hours, 48 minutes and 27 seconds that it took him to run the Kansas City Marathon on Saturday, the Kansas City Star reports.

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He had been running and knitting for three years before he decided to combine the two to make the the “tedious” hobbies more fun, the newspaper wrote.

Babcock, who also raised money for Alzheimer’s disease research, hopes his 12-foot long one will set a new record, which must meet the following requirements, according to his personal website:

  1. Start knitting after crossing the starting line.
  2. Size 15 US needles max (10mm).
  3. 30 stitches per row, garter stitch.
  4. Complete the marathon in under 6 hours.
  5. Beat the 2.05 meter length.

But he’s not the first to make headlines for knitting while running. Susie Hewer reportedly knit a scarf that measured 6 feet, 9 inches during the Virgin London Marathon in April to help raise money for Alzheimer’s disease research. That’s even longer than the one she made during the 2008 Flora London that was 5 feet, 2 inches, which set a Guinness World Record for “Longest Scarf Knitted Whilst Running a Marathon.”

Hopefully these runners’ accomplishments will bring renewed confidence to anyone who has ever started knitting a scarf for a friend or family member and hasn’t finished it yet.

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