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Malcolm Gladwell just challenged LeBron James to a mile race

It would be the best race of 2017. Just sayin'

Malcolm Gladwell (left) and Dave Reid coming into the finish at an Ontario school race in 1978. Photo: Bob Olsen.

No joke, Malcolm Gladwell just challenged LeBron James to a mile race. Gladwell tweeted this suggestion on Wednesday afternoon and now his followers are freaking out. Clearly, we are too and we’re crossing out fingers hoping that this race materializes. Please let this become a thing. 

As the Canadian literary king puts it, he wants to race LeBron James anywhere, anytime. See for yourself.

Gladwell is quite the runner and makes his interest in the sport known. He started distance running in his town of Elmira, Ont. when he was growing up. Actually, he was even an OFSAA champion is his day. Recently, he also told Outside Magazine that he thinks listening to music while running is soft. (Pro-music runners were rather outraged to our amusement.) 

His latest murmurings about running have already caused quite the stir among his followers. Of course, a storm of tweets ensured. This one was our favourite:

The highly regarded author of Tipping Point, OutliersWhat The Dog Saw and many others has run the 5th Avenue Mile three times in his racing career. He ran in 2013, 2014 and 2015 running 4:54 in 2014. 

So far, LeBron James hasn’t acknowledged Gladwell’s challenge. This is him if he wins: 

We’re not going to lie: we’re monitoring twitter with hawk eyes. Here’s some snapshots of the Gladwell versus LeBron discussion so far: 

This was our least favourite tweet. This guy is just wrong. We care. 

 

Go Gladwell, you got this. Running books nerds got your back!

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