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Instagram star stops for nothing to run sub-three at Boston Marathon

Boston's Davis Clarke went viral with a wild post-race video at the 2024 Boston Marathon

Davis Clarke boston marathon Photo by: @davis.clarke/Instagram

Davis Clarke, an American runner and social media icon who’s made a name for himself for being locked in, every day, went to extreme measures to complete the 2024 Boston Marathon in under three hours.

Minutes after finishing the marathon in two hours and 56 minutes, Clarke shared a graphic video with his 650,000 followers, stating: “I gave it everything for the people–2:56–I (expletive) my pants like crazy. I’m going after it! All day, every day for the people!”

As Clarke informed his followers of his bodily accident, he lowered his phone’s camera to show the evidence. His post-race video has gone viral, surpassing 10 million views on Instagram, and featured in The Daily Mail, GQ, and TMZ.com.

The 27-year-old Citizens Bank manager from Winchester, Mass., became famous for what he says is “being himself” and sharing motivational videos of his everyday life as a “locked-in go-getter” in Boston’s financial district. He documents everything on Instagram from his early morning workouts to his work commute, even “conquering” Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. 

Clarke comes from a running background and earned his spot on the 2024 Boston Marathon start line with a 2:45:35 from last year’s race. Two days before Boston, he posted on Instagram that he had only been training hard for two weeks due to injury, but regardless, would be “locked in” for Marathon Monday to finish in under three hours–and that’s exactly what he did.

Regarding the video, Clarke told Boston.com that he has no regrets. “A quick trip to a porta-potty would’ve wasted time and thrown off my rhythm. I made the decision, Hey, I’m gonna do it for the people,” Clarke said. “I was willing to do whatever it took,” he added. “Maybe some people would say it was a crazy decision, but to me, it wasn’t a question at all. I was going all out.”

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