David Rush — who ran the marathon in 5 hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds— overcame his body overheating from the layers of clothes
Credit: Guinness World Records
NEED TO KNOW
- David Rush broke the Guinness World Record for most T-shirts worn during a marathon at the Idaho Potato Marathon in Boise
- The “compression pressure of 125 T-shirts molding around me as a cast left me sweat-soaked, burning alive,” he recalled
- Rush’s record of 125 T-shirts bested the previous record of 100
An Idaho runner wore a record-breaking outfit on race day.
David Rush ran the Idaho Potato Marathon wearing 125 T-shirts to break the Guinness World Record (GWR) for most T-shirts worn at a marathon.
“I just so happened to look like a potato,” Rush, who is in his 40s, said in a video recap of his May 16 record attempt, which GWR certified in July.
He finished the 26.2-mile race in 5 hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds — just under the 6-hour course time limit — but his attempt was almost thwarted by his body overheating from the layers of clothes.
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“The tight, unyielding compression pressure of 125 T-shirts molding around me as a cast left me sweat-soaked, burning alive, grinding down on my spine, leaving me in a hunched position,” Rush recalled.
He continued of how he felt halfway through the marathon, “The muscles along my spine are aching, my arms are absolutely in agony from the squeezing, the lack of blood, the pain. My feet are on fire from the blisters. My legs are tired for over three hours at this point. I was in agony, miserable and losing concentration.”
Feeling as “graceful as Peter Griffin [from Family Guy] flying down a cliff,” Rush depended on his team of supporters to help him hydrate and fuel throughout the race, particularly since he couldn’t move his arms due to the T-shirts keeping them locked in place.
Aside from giving him water and fuel throughout the race, his team also frequently placed ice cubes in his hands and sprayed his exposed skin with cool water to lower his body temperature.
Rush, who started the race at 213.8 lbs., said that although he lost 5.7 lbs. by the time he crossed the finish line, his shirts gained 6 lbs. because they absorbed his sweat. The shirts weighed 43.4 pounds at the end.
“It was absolute physical devastation. Red, raw, bloody skin. Chafing, screaming, aching, completely swollen hands, but we did it,” he said.
Credit: Guinness World Records
Rush broke the previous record of 100 T-shirts worn during a marathon, which Brendan Matthews set at the 2024 London Marathon.
Rush also holds the record for most T-shirts worn during a half marathon, which he set in 2025 with 137 T-shirts. The female half marathon record is 55 T-shirts, set by Meredith Smith in 2025.
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In his recap, Rush explained how he prepared for the new record.
“To practice for this attempt … I put on five T-shirts, a long-sleeve shirt, a waterproof rain jacket to hold in the moisture and then a fleece and then flannel and then a coat and then another coat and then I’d get my backpacking backpack with 30 pounds of weight and strap it on and go for a run,” he said, adding that he trained by running outside on the Boise River Greenbelt and inside on a treadmill at his YMCA.
Rush, known as Record Breaker Rush, holds more Guinness World Records than anyone — with more than 350 certified records.
“I don’t do this because I like the pain. I do this because I believe in the power of a growth mindset,” the serial record breaker wrote on his website.
“I want to show students that you don’t have to be born with a specific talent to achieve the impossible,” Rush added. “You just have to be willing to prepare, adapt and refuse to quit when the walls start closing in. Resilience isn’t about being strong all the time. It’s about being strong enough to find the next step when your body is telling you to lay down.”
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