When David Staley found out that his friend Denis Mikhaylov had broken the Guinness World Record for greatest distance run on a treadmill in 12 hours, he wasn't impressed.
"I used to run with him in New York," Staley said. "When I saw that he broke it, I had said to myself , 'Wow, I think he could have done better.' I didn't want to pick on Denis, like 'Denis, you need to do a better job,' but I figured why don't I just go out and do better?"
He did just that on Saturday, breaking Mikahylov's record of 80.53 miles by running 81.62 miles on a treadmill at the University of Denver's Ritchie Center from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Staley officially passed the world record shortly after 9:20 p.m. as "Eye of the Tiger" played in the background. He raised one fist in silent celebration but otherwise continued to push forward.
In some ways, Staley, 30, of Evergreen, isn't the type of person you'd expect to hold a world record in ultrarunning. Although he's run in — and won — other ultrarunning events, until February, he ran only "when he felt like it," which usually amounted to about 30 miles a week. When asked about his preparation, he notes with a laugh that "training is a loose term with me."
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