Could I Beat Donovan McNabb in a 5K?

Crazy right? These are the things I think about when I’m not thinking about what tension to string my racquets at or where to run my long runs. At first glance, it sounds pretty ridiculous – I mean, he’s a professional athlete. But so is guard Shawn Andrews (left, 335lbs) and I’m pretty sure I could beat him. So what about Donovan?

I recently watched one of the videos of Donovan’s Offseason workout in Arizona which is what got me thinking. The workout in the video consists of a lot of footwork, lateral movement, etc. The coach says this is supplemented by weight training, then throwing the football in the evenings – no mention of any running in there. Donovan looks big too – I know he’s done a lot of lifting in the past couple of years and has bulked up, which explains how he can make it look so easy to shake off linebackers. The Philadelphia Eagles list him at 6′ 2″ tall, 240 lbs – he’s a big guy. This is not the usual body type of someone winning their age division at your local 5k. So let’s have a look at the stats:

So while I’m 8 years older than him, he’s over 50 lbs heavier than I am. I know that 50 lbs is all muscle (hopefully), but it’s not all leg muscle (I searched but could not find any mention of miles ran per week). While he is still decent at scrambling out of the pocket, he trains to take a hit and to throw touchdowns. My 5k times are by no means stellar, but they are improving, and the bulk of my training is focused on running endurance & speed. I think I would have had a tougher time racing Donovan when he was still playing at Syracuse. After several years in the Pros and a couple of leg injuries, I’m making this prediction: I would beat him. I wouldn’t want to arm wrestle him and I wouldn’t even want to even try to catch one of his zip passes, but I think I would win in a 5000 meter race.

If he’s reading this and wants to take the challenge, there’s a list of local race applications here (the one on Aug. 3oth is women only, but you could still probably volunteer). There’s still plenty of time to kick one out before the season opener Sept. 7th. And seriously, I would trade the 5k race victory and all the glory that comes with it for a guaranteed ticket into the playoffs this year. I will even run the Philadelphia Marathon wearing a #5 jersey if that would help the cause.

[In the interest of journalistic integrity, I posted a question over at Donovan’s blog asking if anyone knows what kind of miles he runs – doubt I’ll get an answer, all those guys want to talk about is Football, sheesh].

Go Eagles – bring one home for the fans this year, please!