Diddy Ran The City, Finished New York Marathon In Four Hours
Now he knows how Da Band felt when they went on their cheesecake quest.
P. Diddy, suffering from leg cramps for more than half the race,
finished the New York City Marathon on Sunday with an official time of four
hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds. More significantly, the hip-hop
entrepreneur said he raised $2 million for the city's children.
"I've never experienced mental or physical pain like that," Diddy told reporters after completing the 26.2-mile race. Diddy came in 11,359th
out of 35,100 entrants to cross the Central Park finish line. But
runner No. 30972 achieved another goal, beating Oprah Winfrey's 1994
Marine Corps marathon time of four hours and 29 minutes. Diddy was
scheduled to appear on Winfrey's TV show Monday.
Despite eight weeks of intensive training and dieting, two weeks
abstention from sex and limiting himself to one party per week, Diddy
clearly felt painful leg cramps during his first marathon bid. "I was
in real trouble and I wanted to stop," he told reporters. "It was a
life-changing experience because I did not stop." Besides the onset of
cramps 12 miles into his run, Diddy, sporting a streamlined Mr.
T-style Mohawk haircut, also aggravated his already injured right
knee during the race.
Through personal solicitations from his ex, J. Lo, as well as friends
Busta Rhymes, Ashton Kutcher and Jay-Z and corporate sponsorships,
Combs set out to raise more than $1 million for New York's public
schools, the Children's Hope Foundation for children suffering from
HIV/AIDS and his own Daddy's House youth organization. Diddy touted his
charity run for several weeks leading up to the race through media
appearances, an 800 number and the Web site diddyrunsthecity.com.
Diddy, 33, was registered for the race under his given name, Sean
Combs. He was not just another face in the crowd, however. Several
undercover police officers served as bodyguards, crowds of children ran
alongside him as he made his way through Harlem and numerous onlookers
held up signs cheering him on.
Moments after finishing the race, Diddy was loaded into a tinted-window
SUV and rushed off to a press conference.
Continuing a New York Marathon trend, the race was won by a Kenyan,
Martin Lel, who crossed the finish line in two hours, 10 minutes and 30
seconds. Margaret Okayo, also from Kenya, took the women's crown with a
time of two hours, 22 minutes and 31 seconds.
Though Diddy said he came to respect the culture of long-distance
runners during his training period, when asked if he might participate
again next year, the rapper was quoted in New York's Newsday as
replying, "No, no, no, no, no."
You can see how Diddy tackled the marathon when the conclusion of MTV’s two-part “Diddy Runs The City” series of specials debuts on Saturday, November 8 at 2 p.m. Eastern. The conclusion will be immediately preceded by part one of “Diddy Runs The City,” which airs at 1 p.m. Eastern.