Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Celebrities running marathons isn’t anything new. In recent years, seriously fit stars like Colin Farrell, Jennifer Connelly, and Ashton Kutcher have all laced up their running shoes and participated in the 26.2-mile challenge. The latest celeb to join the race? Harry Styles, who crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 2nd. But he didn’t just complete the fantastic feat; he crushed it, leaving running experts scratching their heads. Unlike the other celebs that came before him, Styles ran with almost perfectly even splits and finished with an impressive time. Even the Olympics were wowed.

The “As It Was” singer finished the Tokyo Marathon with a net time of 3 hours, 24 minutes, and seven seconds (3:24:07), coming in 6,010th place out of more than 37,000 registered runners. That’s an average of 7:47 per mile, which is remarkably fast, considering that Styles isn’t a professional runner—and quite frankly, did anyone even know he ran?


Singer Harry StylesStyles has laid low since his 22-month world tourWikiMedia Commons

Based on recent data, most amateur runners finish the Tokyo Marathon in between 4 and 5 hours, with many typically crossing the line at around 4:15:00. To put that into perspective, if we return to the celebrity marathon runners mentioned before, Harry beat them significantly. In 2021, Colin Farrell ran the 2021 Brisbane Marathon in 3:53:14, then later completed the 2024 Dublin Marathon in 4:06:45 (while pushing his friend Emma Fogarty in a wheelchair, no less!) Meanwhile, Jennifer Connelly finished the New York City Marathon in 3:45:47, while Ashton Kutcher came in at 3:54:01 at the 2022 NYC Marathon.

More impressive still, Styles’ performance was marked by extremely consistent split times—1:42:03 for the first half and 1:42:04 for the second half—meaning that he maintained a consistent, steady pace throughout the race, which helped him manage energy efficiently. Even splits are different from negative splits (where the second half is faster) and positive splits (where the first half is faster, then the runner slows down). Some professional runners may use negative splits to finish a race strong, but usually an even split time is praised for being a straightforward strategy that balances effort over time. With just a second between his times from first half of the race and the second, the three-time Grammy winner showed incredible consistency that many experienced marathoners struggle to achieve.

Oh My God Wow GIFEven experts are impressed.Giphy

The 4-hour mark is widely considered an important threshold for marathon runners, the barrier between those who run to “get through” and those who dream of accomplishing something greater. “The hallmark characteristic of a well-paced race is consistency,” explains Matt Fitzgerald, the author of On Pace: Discover How to Run Every Race at Your Real Limit. “Perfect pacing, in other words, is precise pacing, and precise pacing is difficult—and rare.”

How did he prepare?

To prepare, the 31-year-old former One Direction star trained with former British special forces and professional fighter Thibo David, who ensured he was in shape for Tokyo. David is an absolute beast regarding physical fitness, having trained elite athletes, professional boxers, and professional soccer players. “When I first started training Harry, I wasn’t thinking ‘marathon finisher,’ but peak performance was always the goal,’ David toldRunning Magazine. “Whether training for a world tour, a film role, or a marathon, the same principles apply: structure, smart recovery, and long-term resilience.”


man in white sleeveless top stretching before a run on the track “Whether training for a world tour, a film role, or a marathon, the same principles apply: structure, smart recovery, and long-term resilience.” Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

After Styles became People magazine’s sexiest musician alive in 2024, fitness writer Harry Bullmore uncovered the secrets of Styles’ high-intensity workout routine, detailed below. (It’s important to note that Styles doesn’t complete this workout every day. According to David, in addition to high-intensity workouts, Harry also mixes in running, swimming, weight training, and mobility work to achieve optimum results. He also rotates recovery sessions in, which can include ice baths, massages, and stretching.)

  1. To warm up, Harry jogs at a slow pace, usually between 10 to 30 minutes.
  2. Then, he explodes into a one-mile run, completed as quick as possible. According to David, Styles can run a mile in an impressive 5 minutes and 13 seconds.
  3. It's a body weight challenge time. Style must complete 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 unweighted squats within eight minutes. Even for professional fitness writer Bullmore, this was tough. “My thighs were on fire by the final rep,” he writes.
  4. Style then jumps into a free-weights circuit, which he completes four times. They consist of one minute of kettlebell swings, one minute of box jumps, two minutes of sandbag over-the-shoulder tosses, and two minutes of alternating dumbbell clean and presses. Rest for one minute in between.
  5. Then, it’s on to hill sprints. Style completes eight rounds of 30-45-second sprints, run on a treadmill set on a .5-2.5% incline. Mind you, this is after he’s already completed a 30-minute jog and a one-mile sprint. “By the eighth round, I felt like death,” writes Bullmore. “My springs turned to slogs, and the time it took me to complete the distance I established in the first interval grew longer.
  6. To strengthen the mid-body muscles, Styles then goes into a 15-minute workout of “diverse core exercises, including planks, one-sided farmer’s walks, side planks, and sit-up variations.”
  7. Finally, it’s time to stretch. After approximately two hours of working out, David stretches Styles for 10-15 minutes.

Harry Styles poses for photoCould you complete Harry Styles' workout routine? Free Malaysia Today

As a high-energy, physical performer who completed a grueling 22-month “Love on Tour” with 169 performances worldwide, it’s no surprise that Styles’ fitness routine is appropriately intense. But training for stage performances doesn’t always translate to other physical feats, like running marathons, making Styles’ accomplishment all the more impressive.

Fans react

Despite a high-profile career, the singer is low-key about his personal life and did not publicize his participation in this event. However, all it took was a few eagle-eyed Directioners to take note of his presence before videos began to spread on social media. “That’s a great run, especially if it’s his first marathon!” commented @adhirkalyan on one of the many Instagram posts about Harry's latest adventure. On the same post, @mydesigntutor added, “That was a cracking run! I did it too and it was HARD in the heat.”

Over on TikTok, @Milaoller shared her perspective of the marathon and the moment Styles rounded the corner.



@milaoller

That one time you realized you saw Harry Styles running the Tokyo Marathon #harrystyles #tokyomarathon2025 #harrystylesvids #harrystylestiktok

Whether the 2025 Tokyo Marathon signals a new chapter in Styles’ life or simply just another very impressive notch in the pop singer and actor’s career, one thing is clear: Harry Styles doesn’t just have stamina and power on stage, but on the pavement as well.

More For You

Adele invites two random girls on stage and is stunned when she sees them
Cover Image Source: Reddit

Adele invites two random girls on stage and is stunned when she sees them

Adele has a reputation for creating unforgettable moments on stage, but even she wasn't prepared for this one. During a concert in 2016, the British singer-songwriter invited two young girls from the audience to join her. What started as a sweet interaction quickly turned into a jaw-dropping surprise when she suddenly realized who they were.

In a fan-recorded video shared on YouTube by Fabianvdw, Adele is seen greeting the two girls with warm hugs before asking their names and where they were from. But when she looked out into the crowd and spotted their father, everything fell into place. In complete disbelief, she gasped, "Oh, my god! No way! I knew you when you were babies!" Turning to the audience, she exclaimed, "Her mum plays for me; she plays the cello. You were like two weeks old when I first saw you."

Keep ReadingShow less
group of kids dancing in black shirts and jeans

Never say never.

Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash

Dance teacher gives encouraging speech to young girl who was told she'd never be a professional dancer

Encouraging kids to pursue their dreams and goals is a powerful catalyst to see them go for it. With the right people in your corner, anything can seem possible. Without them or the encouragement, though, it can be dream crushing. And if kids are explicitly told they will never accomplish those dreams, it can be a nail in the coffin.

For Kim McSwain, owner of KM Agency Dance School, she turned one of her own mistakes from the past into a moment to help one of her students, Zoe, go for her dance dream. McSwain shared an emotional video of her encouraging one of her dancers to pursue her dream of becoming a professional after she was told she would never be one. In the caption, she wrote, "We want all of our kids to grow up and be what they want to be 💕."

Keep ReadingShow less
United States Post Office at night

Sweet story delivery!

Photo by Joe Han on Unsplash

Woman with Down syndrome named Grace, 26, befriends favorite postman named Will

The most unlikely friendships can develop in the most unlikely places. For best friends Will and Grace (yep, just like the namesake NBC sitcom, Will & Grace), that place was their local post office.

Grace, a 26-year-old with Down syndrome, is an artist and entrepreneur who owns a small business called Candidly Kind. She started in March 2018 when she was a senior in high school after she was mistreated and turned down for a job. "Her mission since day one has been to spread light, love, and acceptance, and to give back to help people with disabilities," her mom Carrie explains in an Instagram video. With frequent packages to mail to her customers, Grace began making trips to her local post office, where she met Will, a postman working there who quickly became her favorite.

Keep ReadingShow less
Cybersecurity experts now say complex passwords do more harm than good
Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Antoni Shkraba

Cybersecurity experts now say complex passwords do more harm than good

For years, we've been told that long, complicated passwords—filled with random letters, numbers, and special characters—are the key to keeping our accounts secure. But new guidelines from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggest that this approach is outdated—and may actually make you less safe.

Instead of hard-to-remember combinations, experts now recommend using simpler, more memorable passwords that don’t require frequent changes, according to QBE European Operations.

Keep ReadingShow less
buzz lightyear, asl, sign language

Buzz Lightyear surprises Deaf and hard of hearing kids with sign language at Disney Land.

Wikipedia

Buzz Lightyear surprises deaf boy at Disneyland by communicating in sign language

When Estefani and Oscar (@thatdeaffamily), Deaf first generation Mexican-Americans, recently took their two children (their Deaf daughter, Everlyn, and Hard of Hearing son, Jabez) to Disneyland, they got the surprise of a lifetime. While saying hi to Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, he recognized that they were communicating with each other with American Sign Language (ASL).

To their delight, he stopped them and began to communicate in sign language. "Buzz Lightyear having a 'wait, they can sign?' moment 😆🥰," she captioned the post.

Keep ReadingShow less