Pablo Espinosa breaks 30-day treadmill record

After spending the month of February running an average of 71 kilometres each day, Pablo Espinosa of St-Polycarpe, Que., ran 1,336 miles (2,150 kilometres) to set a new 30-day treadmill world record. He fell short of his ultimate goal of 1,500 miles (2,415 kilometres) in the month, but still beat the previous record by 222 miles.

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Espinosa started his record attempt on January 30, with a plan to run 81K each day. He started off really well, and he was on pace to reach his goal of 1,500 miles for over two-thirds of the attempt.

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“I broke the record on day 22,” he says. “I had issues with my hip. I should have stopped.”

On Day 23, he only ran 45 kilometres. The next day, he walked 23 kilometres in a “recovery day for the hip,” he said in a post on his attempt Facebook page. 

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“I was walking with a cane going to the gym for the last eight days,” Espinosa says. Despite his hobbled state (he could hardly walk after officially breaking the record on Day 22), he intended to finish the full 30 days, even if the 1,500 mile goal was out of reach.

In addition to his hip issues, earlier in the run, Espinosa dealt with shin and quadricep pain. However beaten up he got, Espinosa says that the wear and tear on his body was not the most difficult part of the month.

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“The hardest part of the whole thing was commuting,” he says. “I spent over two hours each day going back and forth to the gym and home.” Weather played a big role in this, and on one ride back from the gym during a snowstorm, he and his son slid off the road and into a ditch (they were both OK).

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Through the whole 30 days, Espinosa had plenty of support, the most important of which came from his wife and son, who “always follow me and support all my wishes and dreams.”

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He may not have reached his original 1,500-mile goal, but he’s the new record-holder all the same. He says that he doesn’t plan on doing another 30-day record attempt, but he won’t rule it out completely.

“If somebody beats my record, then yeah, I’ll definitely go for it again.”