Cole Bray is a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., majoring in Finance. He gained media attention when his friend Chris Ellis (‘27) posted a viral TikTok video of Bray walking a marathon in the Pit, Wake Forest’s dining hall, after losing a fantasy football competition. Since Jan. 17, the video has garnered almost 1.5 million views as well as comments from Yahoo Fantasy, NBC Sports and ESPN. Features Editor Alexandra Meier sat down with Bray to discuss his newfound fame and plans for the future. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Alexandra Meier: Tell me about your fantasy league.
Cole Bray: The league is all of my buddies here at school. There are 10 of us. When we got talking about our fantasy punishment, we wanted to do something original. Believe it or not, a marathon in the Pit wasn’t the initial idea. We were going to have the loser break Joey Chestnut’s record of eating 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Meier: Whose idea was the marathon in the pit?
Bray: We all came up with the idea of the Pit marathon in the final days of the league. My buddy Drew, the league’s commissioner, was adamant that we all come up with a punishment before the loser is decided, so nobody could back out. [In fantasy football, every league has a commissioner who maintains fairness.]
Meier: How did you prepare for the big day?
Bray: I did nothing to prepare for the marathon. My buddies were joking with me that I should walk on the treadmill to do some training. But I thought, “It’s just walking — how hard can it be?” We didn’t decide on the day I was going to do it until the night before. It was the Thursday of the first week of school, and I don’t have classes on Friday, so I thought I might as well do it then.
Meier: Walk me through the logistics of your marathon.
Bray: I started just a few minutes before 9 a.m. and walked until 6:30 p.m., although I think my total walking time was about 8 hours, 45 minutes. I had to stop at some point to answer some emails, [and] I got lunch and took a few breaks, but the only time I left the pit was to go to the bathroom. My route was a figure eight around the Pit. I walked around the yogurt and granola station and then did another loop around the pizza and pasta. I maintained that route the whole time. We estimated that each lap around the pit was about .03 miles. If you do the conservative estimate, that ends up being around 600 laps with 26 miles. So I walked at least 600 laps around the Pit that day.
Meier: Did you listen to any music?
Bray: I started off with no music because I thought if I listened to music in the beginning, then I would get tired of it by the end of the day. I put on some tunes for about an hour or two. It was more so to take my mind off of the monotony of it. I listened to some ‘90s rock, grunge-type music. I wanted to listen to more upbeat songs to keep my energy high. I debated listening to a podcast at one point, but I didn’t think I would be able to listen to someone talk over all the background chatter in the Pit.
Meier: Did you ever think about folding?
Bray: There was one point in the afternoon when all of my buddies had class around 3:00 p.m., and nobody was there because it was in between lunch and dinner. That was kind of defeating. But if I am being completely honest, I just committed to it. I told myself to just get through each mile and then think about the next one, which helped. I think if I were at three miles and had to think about the fact I had 23 miles to go, then I would feel overwhelmed and defeated. I would just think “let’s get from three to four and then four to five and then before I knew it, it was 19 to 20. There was one point close to the end, I think I was at mile 24, and my ankles were really starting to hurt. I was even debating tapping out, but I was so close to the end.
Meier: Who helped you get through it?
Bray: Ms. Sonny, one of the Pit employees, asked me if I was doing all of this for charity. I said no, but I thought that was a good idea. My friends and I want the Pit Marathon to be the punishment for the loser every year, so we are thinking of turning it into a charity event. People would pledge money for each mile walked, and we would donate the money to an organization. One of my finance professors recommended an organization called the Covenant House, which provides shelter and support to 18-to 22-year-olds facing homelessness.
Meier: Can you describe the atmosphere towards the end of the marathon?
Bray: At 5 p.m., people started showing up for dinner and that made it fun. By the last 30 minutes, all of my friends were just sitting there eating and watching me walk. The Pit was packed because it was peak time at 6 p.m. That really motivated me to finish the marathon. My buddies were there to chat with me when I passed their table. Sometimes they would walk a lap with me. Eventually, one of the Deacon Dining workers interviewed me while I was walking. She came back with a little plastic trophy and told my friends to give it to me at the end. It’s sitting on my desk right now. During the last three laps, my friends started screaming “three to go” to everyone in the Pit. For the last lap, everyone stood up and started clapping. It honestly kind of felt like “the pity clap” for whoever finishes last in a track meet. Everyone was telling me to jog the last one. The whole thing was kind of ridiculous. It felt like something out of the movie “Chariots of Fire.”
Meier: Did you expect to get media attention over this?
Bray: Not at all. I had no idea my friends were planning on posting a TikTok about it. When they were filming me, I thought it was just for laughs. I did not expect the video to go viral. We saw that ESPN commented and a reporter from the Independent reached out to run a story on me. The whole thing is so random. I thought this would be something people would be making fun of me for, not writing articles about. It’s also been funny to get attention on campus. Last night I was scanning in at the Pit and the girl in front of me asked “Are you the marathon guy?”
Meier: What are your takeaways from this experience?
Bray: Now I know I can walk a marathon. My mom was joking with me that I needed one of those 26.2 bumper stickers for my car. I think my biggest takeaway from the experience is that a positive mindset can get you far. Also, the idea that a lot of good can come from absurd things like walking a marathon in the Pit. I am hoping our charity idea works out, and we can raise money for a good cause.
Meier: Last question: what’s your favorite Pit station?
Bray: I love the pasta station. Rosalina at the pasta station is my favorite. We chat it up every lunch. Honestly last semester, I was eating pasta maybe six days a week. I love pasta, and Rosalina is awesome. She always has a smile on her face.
