Races - Places.
After working the juggling festival circuit, the 53-year-old spent nearly 30 years running and juggling bean bags during road races. By 2010, he’d grown restless with the routine. He needed to do something else—be someone else.
So, for the past seven years, Goldmeier has taken on a persona—movie character, sports figure, or one of his own design—and dazzled race crowds by keeping the accompanying props airborne, from hockey sticks to Ping-Pong balls to deflated footballs.
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The Maryland native does some 20 marathons a year nationwide and isn’t focused on speed or competing. He lines up in the back of corrals for space and to not bother other runners. Mostly, he appreciates the smiles and the laughs.
“The whole idea is to be funny,” he says. “I’m out there about six hours, and by the time I get near the finish, people are just surprised I’m still going.”
Published: Jan 22, 2018 8:41 AM EST:
Globetrotter
When the Harlem Globetrotters are in town, you get an acrobatic basketball spectacle. When Goldmeier runs, you get a joggling wonder. Though basketballs are his favorite props to juggle, he’s hesitant to use them in a race, for safety reasons. “When a bean bag falls and is stepped on, it goes squish,” he says. “Basketballs are unpredictable.” Instead, he often dribbles a basketball and juggles two bean bags in the other hand.
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Forrest Gump
With Goldmeier, you never know what you’re going to get. So when shopping for a new role, he turned to the fictional ultrarunner. Donning Gump apparel and a black wig and beard, he bounces a ball on a Ping-Pong paddle with one hand and juggles bean bags in the other. It’s quite a handful. “That’s probably my slowest outfit,” he says.
Deflated Brady
One of Goldmeier’s first gimmicks was as a quarterback. The costume was simple: a jersey, a mask, and some slightly deflated footballs. When Deflategate rocked Tom Brady in 2015, Goldmeier created his most famous schtick: a Brady mask and jersey with a sign reading, “The Official Game Ball of the New England Patriots.” Says Goldmeier, “I always deflated the footballs, but I really deflated them for Brady.”
Sporty Santa
“Not everyone gets the sports things, but everyone gets Santa Claus,” Goldmeier says. However, he can’t resist his sports props. Three of D.C.’s professional teams share Santa’s fondness for red; with a mini Capitals hockey stick, a Redskins football, a plastic Nationals baseball bat, and a white beard, he becomes Santa’s little D.C. sports fan.
For Barry Goldmeier, simply running 26.2 miles isnt enough Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
