Friday Faceplant: Running On ‘Water’

If you fall, at least it’s softer than the ground.

A couple weekends ago at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail, Colo., Vibram, the minimalist footwear company, set up a mini water attraction called the Vibram Water Run. Participants were invited to run on a funky, goo-like liquid and pull kettlebells from it (according to the laws of physics and gravity, those kettlebells would sink straight to the bottom). So what is this so-called water? It’s oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid that acts similar to a fluid when poured, but reacts like a solid when a force is acting upon it, such as running. Thus, giving the biblical illusion of running on water.

However, walk, run or do backflips on oobleck for too long and it increases the risk of an oobleck facial. Although this video doesn’t involve a whole lot of running as much as it does the pulling of Vibram-branded kettlebells, we’d like to imagine running a mile on oobleck—it’d be a tough workout to avoid sinking!