dagwood record conquered!

much to my horror and amusement, mark "the human vacuum" lyle has beaten the dagwood world record.

dagwood lore: the dagwood challenge began when a customer ate the dagwood in 13 minutes and then finished it off with pie. the next milestone came when one josh matko finished it off in 6 minutes. then in march 2008, a valiant young group of columbus underground guys took the challenge as a group. thanks in no small part i'm sure, to the internet infamy of the columbus underground group, the dagwood was subsequently featured on man vs. food. then, flying under the radar, an unnamed amateur swooped in and beat the 6 minute mark by 30 seconds, raising (or is it lowering?) the bar to 5.5 minutes.

and so we arrive at present day. mark "the human vacuum" lyle is ready to kick off his pre-retirement tour, his "adventure in gluttony", by beating the dagwood record. driving to the ohio deli, i was nervous. i wasn't sure it could be done. and i didn't want mark to fail. and i wasn't sure just how bad the carnage would be.

the waitress brought out the dagwood, mark settled in and was off to devour the dagwood. he quickly disassembled the sandwich and the meat was gone in under 50 seconds. he spent less than 2 minutes each on the bread and then fries and in just 4 minutes and 44 seconds, it was all gone.

mark finishes off the deli meat

and when it's over, he takes a victory lap with two pieces of chocolate cream pie

notice the gaping whole on the wall of champions -it's where mark's record will be posted

a 4 minute, 44 second record is an auspicious start to his pre-retirement tour and i've got to admit, i'm hooked. mark is a fierce competitor, entertaining to watch and extremely gracious. i'm looking forward to more adventures in gluttony.