Doily Dash – Kansas City Marathon 2015

A new World Record attempt
Largest Crochet Doily While Running A Marathon
Benefitting the Alzheimer's Association

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Special Thanks To:

Lion Brand® Yarn

SPONSOR of the Knitting Runner

I will be running in the 2015 KC Wadell & Reed Marathon on October 17th.

My Guinness World Record for the, "Longest Scarf Knit Whilst Running A Marathon" was at the Kansas City marathon in 2013. It is a great race with a lot of great spectators and volunteers. Last year I did the half marathon while finger-knitting. This year once again will be another marathon and a new record attempt. I'll be attempting to make the "Largest Crochet Doily While Running A Marathon".

Training on the Treadmill for Doily Dash
Photo by J. Babcock

The Plan

  1. A super-bulky weight (6) Lion Brand yarn: Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
  2. A 9mm crochet hook
  3. Crochet a doily over 3 feet diameter
  4. Carry all of the yarn with me
  5. Run average of 10 minute mile pace (4 hour 20 minute marathon)
  6. Follow a regular pattern
  7. At least 25% density of yarn to open space ratio
  8. Measure across the shortest diameter

What & Why

I'm calling this the, "Doily Dash". It will be awesome. My grandma used to make doilys. When most people think of a doily they think of their grandma. It should look pretty crazy to see a guy running a marathon, at a good pace, and making a big lacy thing at the same time. I'm not so sure that the average person will know the difference between crochet and knitting. So if someone asks, "Was that guy knitting?" should I say no? I'm trying to get a lot of attention not for me but for Alzheimer's Disease fundraising and awareness. It is the kind of fun and silly story that I hope people will share with their friends and encourage them to donate towards Alzheimer's. Follow my buttons everywhere to get to my fundraising page:
Alzheimer's Fundraising Page
https://www.crowdrise.com/teamalz2015tcsnycmarathon1/fundraiser/theknittingrunner

My Doily Pattern
Try it yourself!
My Tools
Go Lion Brand!
A Treadmill Training Test
This was about 1 hour 17 minutes worth, 9 minute miles for 8.6 miles.

The Doily

This pattern that I have created should work well. It is simple and repetitive. I chain two and then double crochet or at the corners do a US half treble crochet (where you yarn over twice, pull through the first two loops and then pull through 3 loops). I am afraid that it will get pretty heavy when it is 3 times this size.

The front attachment
The back attachment

I'm testing out a mechanism for helping to hold the heavy doily that will allow it to still spin as I make it. I have mocked up a weird contraption using a roller-skate wheel that can attach around my waist or a waist pack. I'm planning on wearing waist packs to hold the yarn balls like I did for Longest Scarf record.

Treadmill Training #2
This was another 1 hour 18 minutes worth, 9 minute miles for 8.8 miles.