He can sing, he can dance, he can...run an under-3-hour marathon under a fake name? The British singer-songwriter and former member of band One Direction recently ran his second marathon of the year, this time in Berlin, under a pseudonym.
Styles entered the race under the name Sted Sarandos, but was quickly recognized more and more as the race went on, because he does have one of the more recognizable faces in the world, stemming from his nearly two decades of fame.
The Berlin Marathon was host to nearly 80,000 participants from all over the world. Of the roughly 80,000 participants, Styles finished an admirable 2,242nd in the race at a time of 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 13 seconds.
Styles was recognizable to those who know his face well, even behind sunglasses and a head bandana, both worn probably more for running the marathon than any form of disguise.
He was otherwise kitted out in all black, save for a pair of red sneakers.
The three-hour mark is a badge of honor among amateur marathoners. This placed him at around a 6:50 minutes per mile average for the whole course.
Many runners commented to that effect, making sure that the impressiveness of his achievement wasn't understated.
Berlin was actually Styles' second marathon this year; he ran the Tokyo marathon back in March, albeit with a significantly longer time of 3 hours and 24 minutes, with a 7:47 minute per mile rate.
It is truly an achievement, many runners chimed in, that he managed to shave more than 45 minutes off his time from March to now.
Of course, because Styles has been in the public eye so long, there were opportunities for the obvious pun.
Someone noted that it was unusually warm for Berlin this year, cooling down from the prior day's 84F to a still respectable 77F, nearly ten degrees higher than London's usual September weather.
Runners in the know also praised Styles for how even paced his entire run was, with both halves of the marathon clocking in around the same time.
Some longtime fans of Styles noted that maybe some of Styles' singing background helped him out in the run.
Who doesn't take up a hobby in their thirties?
There are many marathons around the world, and maybe Styles is going for ever-decreasing times. He'll need a new pseudonym, though.
