The ‘Blue Jean Mile’ is the new challenge where people run 4-minute miles in denim

Look — running a mile isn’t easy. Running a mile in less than five minutes? That’s even harder. And doing it while wearing a pair of jeans? That just seems unnecessarily difficult.

But that’s what some people do — and they’re really good at it.

The Blue Jean Mile is a challenge created by running publication Citius Magazine back in March that has people running track in their denim. The rules are simple: run a mile wearing a pair of jeans. The jeans can only be rolled two inches above the ankle for safety and (most importantly) they MUST be blue.

Sound easy? It’s probably not. But some people certainly make it look that way.

Last week, BYU track athlete Rory Linkletter, who finished in second in the 10,000-meter run at June’s NCAA championship, broke the current world record for the Blue Jean Mile, running 4:16:00 in a pair of slightly baggy denim jeans at a track in Utah.

More impressively, he did it while “Blue Jeans” by Lana Del Ray played.

Sheeh. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to run a mile that fast, let alone in my jeans. Some mornings, I can’t even get my jeans on in 4:16:00. And he’s not the only one to speed through a mile rocking jeans: runner Jackie Katzman currently holds the women’s world record with a time of 5:29.13.

And to make it even more impressive, let’s look at the pants track runners usually wear:

Hmm ... those are a lot shorter than jeans. Probably way easier to run in, too.

Currently, the winning for the person who runs a under-four-minute Blue Jean Mile is over $1,000 — so you better thrown on those jeans and get runnin’!