Running a half marathon is hard enough, but a man from Eagle did it pushing an extra 240 pounds in front of him — his quintuplets in a five-seat stroller.
Chad Kempel tackled a Guinness World Record last weekend alongside his wife and their children this last weekend. Hundreds of runners raced in the Oakland Marathon in Oakland, California last weekend, but Kempel and his five quintuplets stood out the most.
“I was very challenged on that day,” Kempel said.
Kempel has been trying to set this specific Guinness World Record since before the pandemic.
“I'm the first person doing it, but when you're the first person to set a record, Guinness gives you a certain cut off and they gave me a cut-off of 2 hours and 30 minutes,” Kempel said.
He finished the 13.1-mile race with minutes to spare at 2 hours and 19 minutes, setting the Guinness World Record for running a half-marathon while pushing five children.
“They were saying, 'Run faster dad!' and I'm just dying sweating and I'm like, ‘I don’t even know if I can go any farther!’” Kempel said. “I had forgotten how heavy it could be, especially when we’re going up a hill, even if it’s barely a hill at all, I'm basically full-on holding the whole thing up.”
Kempel is no stranger to chasingrecords. He tried to break a record in 2019 but missed itby minutes. He then set another record in 2019 for finishing a full marathon with the kids, and he ran the fastest 10k with them in Idaho.
But this time was different — his wife Amy Kempel rode alongside him the whole way.
“People cheer me on but I'm just thinking this nothing compared to what she’s doing. It always comes back to her and what she does on a daily basis,” Kempel said.
“I heard a lot of, ‘Oh my gosh!’ and people trying to count the number of children,” Amy said. “His motto is anything is possible and what I love is that our children from a young age will know that.”
As for trying to set more records, Kempel says he’s done, but he hopes his kids can run alongside him next time.
