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Niemann to attempt to live-draw a marathon run

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The Gothamist reports that Abstract Sunday cartoonist Christoph Niemann will attempt to live-draw his first marathon.

From the Gothamist:

“It’s either the smartest or the most idiotic idea ever,” laughs Niemann. He wanted to tell a personal story-“but I realized I’m running out of stories, because my life isn’t that interesting.” So he signed up for the marathon. “I like the idea of working without being able to go back into the studio for a week,” he says. “There’s something about the urgency of deadlines that interests me. I’m pushing the idea of live reporting to the limits!”

So far the plan is to run a mile and a half and walk a mile and a half while drawing during the walking portion.

Good luck Christoph. If you’re not familiar with his work, head over to the New York Times. I especially liked his “Rock Paper Scissors, 2011 Style“

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Comments 10

  1. ?It?s either the smartest or the most idiotic idea ever.”

    It’s both! I love it, though. His sketches after he hits mile 20 should be interesting.

  2. Wow. Good luck with that! I get out of breath thinking about it.

  3. Two thoughts: 1) he’s insane. 2) He has no idea how hard it’s really going to be. Carrying a fold-away table in a backpack?! He may be in fantastically awesome shape for all I know, but having attempted three and finished two marathons myself, all I can say is at some point it’s all about getting one foot in front of the other, let alone composing any coherent idea about how to sketch something up. That being said, I’m excited for him and wish him the best of luck.

    I’m running the Tucson Marathon in December, btw, but I think I’m leaving the pencils at home.

  4. I’ve run a few marathons and, if I recall correctly, my fingers and hands weren’t working that well after a bunch of miles.

  5. Yeah, there’s no doubt he’s insane for attempting this, especially since this is his very first marathon. But I love the idea because it’s so out there. I reminds me of the guy who juggled for an entire marathon.

  6. The juggling guy (at least the one around DC) runs SO MANY marathons. He probably runs several a year. That’s a lot of practice – and building up of endurance.

  8. Donna, I forgot about the term “joggling.” I had heard of it a few years ago. Two fast jogglers went head-to-head in a big race and they got some publicity.

    If I remember correctly, one joggler crushed the other joggler – it was really no contest.

    I guess the guy who lost didn’t put in enough time running. He was probably busy with work and various other life commitments. You know, he had a lot of balls in the air.

  9. I can’t think of anything I could possibly do while running. I can barely breathe.

  10. I could never do this in a million years…

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