Princeton Senior Wins $1000 Running an Impromptu Marathon

You might have seen him walking around campus and wondered to yourself – is that the marathon guy? Maybe you were one of the dozens of undergraduates who congratulated a complete stranger on his victory, or maybe you were more skeptical of the truth of the entire story.Here to dispel any doubts about the man, the myth, and the legend – Brian Geiger provides a first-hand account of how he came to be a thousand dollars richer over the course of five hours, 105 laps and a couple of challenges along the way. (Geiger is also, unsurprisingly, a member of the University Press Club himself.)It was 1 AM on Wednesday night in Pyne 511, when an alumnus asked eight of his friends whether or not they could run a marathon, that very night, on pure grit. Senior Brian Geiger claimed that he could despite his friends' disbelief. Five of those present knocked down an original $5,000 to a total of $1,000, betting that Geiger couldn’t run a full marathon around the track – without stopping – the following morning at 10 AM.“These bets happen all of the time, but it’s never really followed through on,” Geiger said. “But in this instance I was pretty confident I could do it so for once, I called my friends out on it, we metaphorically shook on it, and the bet was on.”Although he ran varsity cross-country in high school, Geiger said he hadn’t run more than five miles in the past three years and worried that his body would give out. Tips from the track team and the possibility of shaming himself in front of dozens of people, however, motivated him through the boredom and the pain to the finish line.“My main motivator for wanting to do it was mostly to spite my friends, in addition to the strong financial incentive, that is,” Geiger said.Seniors Hannah Swenson and Spencer Whittaker were the only two betting on Geiger’s side.“It was funny because all of the eight guys who were sure that he couldn’t run the marathon, none of them were runners or had ever run,” Swenson said. “But Geiger ran cross-country in high school, I run pretty regularly and Spencer is also a pretty reasonable runner, so the three of us were pretty aware of the fact that if you set a slow enough pace for the marathon, it’s definitely not easy, but it is certainly possible.”Although 50 or 60 people cycled through the track field throughout the day, Swenson was one of the few who was there for the full five hours, providing Geiger with hydration and nutrition, as well as documenting the spectacle on social media for the world to follow.Swenson said that it was around mile fifteen when people started to realize that Geiger could actually finish the race.“We were all just stunned watching him absolutely trudge through the last six or seven miles,” she said. “Whether they were betting for or against him, everyone was cheering for him by the end.”And despite three lost toenails, difficulty walking up stairs, and extreme thesis procrastination - Geiger said he would readily do it again.“It was overall just a really fun day,” he said. “It was great to see everyone jump on the chance to come down to support me for a couple minutes, or others who came just for fun and were willing to be spontaneous.”See below for a full documentation of the marathon.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1woObZqgXk&feature=youtu.be[/embed]-LZM