There are many ways to enjoy a Taylor Swift concert. That’s a fact well proven by one male Swiftie at one of the singer/songwriter’s tour stops in Los Angeles.
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Brian Anthony Hernandez, a journalist and avid runner, decided to join the hordes of non-ticketed fans outside SoFi Stadium on August 8 and run 13.1 miles in honor of Swift’s lucky number, 13. He documented his experience on Men’s Health, saying “Call me the Taylor Swift Half Marathon Guy.”
“I was the sweatiest person listening to Taylor Swift sing ‘All Too Well’ at the Eras Tour on August 8 in Los Angeles,” Hernandez wrote in his piece. “With Swift’s live vocals soundtracking my entire run, I weaved through thousands of non-ticketed fans also listening to the concert outside the stadium walls.
“To invigorate my full-marathon training routine, I ditched my wireless headphones and instead enjoyed her live music blaring from the stadium speakers,” he continued.
Hernandez then went on to comment on the increasing number of men who are choosing to exercise to Swift’s music. Just search “guys working out to Taylor Swift” on TikTok, as he points out, the number of results is staggering.
“Even pro athletes are Swifties: the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant said in a 2019 interview that ‘it’s important to listen to people who do great things. Taylor’s been at the top of the game for a very, very long time,'” Hernandez added.
Hernandez ended up completing his half-marathon in one hour and 45 minutes – which left one hour and 25 minutes or so left in the concert.
“To put my pace into perspective, I completed all of Mile 9 during the 8-minute standing ovation fans gave Taylor after ‘Champagne Problems,'” Hernandez wrote in an Instagram caption.
The night prior, August 7, Hernandez went to the Eras Tour as a fan, which he credits as being “more of a challenge” than his running stunt. “It’s like you have to do endurance training to come to this show,” he remembered Swift saying during the concert.
Swift has been part of Hernandez’s half marathon training session long before she performed at SoFi Stadium.
“When I hear her songs, my body knows it’s ‘go time,’ either psyching me up for the miles ahead or settling me into a rhythm mid-run,” he wrote. “It’s like her hand is on my back, propelling me forward with every step I take with her in my ears.”
Follow Hernandez’s full Swift running experience in the Instagram video, below.
(Photo by Omar Vega/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )
