Record Accomplished at Opening of New Pacers Store
At the grand opening of the new Pacers store at 3100 Clarendon Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday, December 11, Michael Wardian, 30, of Arlington, set a new world record for a 26.2-mile marathon on a treadmill, running 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 58 seconds, breaking Josh Cox's 2:31:04, set at the Boston Marathon pre-race expo on April 17, 2004.

After starting around 5 minutes and 30 seconds per mile, Wardian's last few miles averaged just over 5 minutes per mile. By the finish, he was surrounded by a cheering crowd including his family and fellow U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers Edmund Burke, Eric Kean, and Heather Hanscom.

Rick and Kathy Freedman of Capital Running Company served as official timers. After 60 minutes of running, the treadmill, borrowed from Gold's Gym, shut down. As Wardian reset the treadmill, the distance covered after the tenth mile was lost. Thanks to Wardian's steady, consistent pace, a spectator calculated the distance not measured. Just in case, Wardian kept running after 2:23:58 until the treadmill's odometer displayed an even 26.2 miles, and that clock time also broke Cox's record by three minutes.

"It's the longest I ever ran without going anywhere," smiled Wardian after his marathon effort.

Standards for World Records for Treadmill Running are at www.recordholders.org/en/list/treadmill.html.

Josh Cox's previous record is documented at http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/treadmill- cox.html.