As he left his home one morning in December, Amos Kimble informed his father that he was heading across the street to their family’s small farm in Tyler County, W.Va.
“He told me he was taking a chicken to the track,” J.C. Kimble recalled. “I was like, ‘What?’”
Amos Kimble, 18, is a high school senior and state champion runner with an entrepreneurial spirit. In an effort to boost his social-media presence and brighten up his winter training, he has been posting mile-long challenges, each more absurd than the last.
He has run the mile while pounding Sprite, milk and energy gels. He has run the mile with his hands handcuffed behind his back. (He did not, as his father feared he would, fall flat on his face.) And he has run the mile blindfolded on a treadmill as his girlfriend pelted him with household objects, including a container of cleaning wipes and an artificial Christmas tree.
But of Amos’s dozen-plus challenges to date, none has resonated more with his growing audience than his self-described “chicken mile,” which he pulled off in a swift 4 minutes and 57 seconds while cradling a hen like a football.
“The chicken did pretty good overall,” he said. “Didn’t poop on me.”
The video clip of that feat, which Amos posted on his Instagram account, @amosruns, has been viewed about 700,000 times. Among those who reacted to the post: Matt James of “The Bachelor” and several pro runners.
“It’s funny, because you think he’s just a small-town kid who put a video out there,” J.C. Kimble said of his son in a phone interview. “But now he’s got some people talking about him.”
Amos, who has a personal best of 4:18 for the mile, logs about 60 miles a week. He plans to run and to study engineering at Marshall University, in Huntington, W.Va., in the fall.
“Running is mentally and physical challenging,” he said. “I found a way to make it fun.”
Most of the time, anyway. A challenge that tested him was the eggnog mile: one glass before each lap. Going into it, his goal was “don’t puke,” he said. He managed to hold out until the fourth and final lap.
“I knew that one was going to end badly,” his father said.
So did Amos. “I’m just about lactose intolerant,” he said.
For the chicken mile, Amos said he was strategic about the particular bird. Looking through the varieties in the family’s three chicken coops, he selected a Buff Orpington, a small breed known for its friendly, docile disposition.
“I didn’t go for one of the bigger ones, because I didn’t want it to flap everywhere,” he said.
In the wake of that run, Amos decided to go bigger. He sought the assistance of his older sister, Abbi, who told their parents of Amos’s plan.
“Hey, I’ve got to take two chickens out for him,” she said.
“Now he wants two?” his father cried.
She transferred a pair of kindly disposed Buff Orpingtons from a coop to a pet carrier.
At the high school track, Amos tucked one chicken under each arm. He was wearing compression shorts, a Nike Dri-Fit top and a beanie with an American flag emblem on the front. The weather was not in his favor — cold, windy, with snow flurries. His sister began shooting video as his father looked on with an amused curiosity.
Amos took off with long, smooth strides. One minute and 12 seconds later, as he completed the first lap, a chicken squawked. The wind held steady. Snowflakes swirled. He maintained his pace to the half-mile point.
The Buff Orpingtons seemed content, even serene, as he pushed onward, slowing just a bit. He completed the mile at 4:55 — two seconds faster than he had run the single-chicken challenge.
“Chicken mile: complete,” Amos said, only slightly out of breath. “Held two chickens the entire time.”
Scott Cacciola writes features and profiles of people in the worlds of sports and entertainment for the Styles section of The Times.
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