A runner is going viral after noticing a bizarre glitch in the matrix.
In a video with over 129,000 views, TikTok user and marathon runner Chris McConnell (@farmerontherun) explains that a local newspaper recently decided to run a story on him. As part of that story, they asked for photos.
“So I sent him some photos of Berlin and Tokyo,” McConnell says, referencing the cities’ respective marathons. “The journalist responds back, and he says, ‘Hey, there’s something really odd about the two photos that you sent me. What’s with that guy running behind you in both pictures?’”
Looking closely at both photos, it’s clear that the same person is running behind McConnell in both photos.
“I do not know this guy. His name is Aristofanis Stavrou,” McConnell states. “I looked him up by his bib number. It’s exactly the same guy.”
How Rare Is This?
Those who are not familiar with how marathons work might not realize just how slim the chances of this happening really are.
“They only take, like, maybe 50, 60 pictures, and they post them on the website,” McConnell says. “What are the chances that I am running next to the same guy that, I don’t know, two years apart in two different cities? And the photographers just happen to capture the moment when we are right next to each other? And those are one of the 50 or 60 pictures that they post.”
In a subsequent video, McConnell adds that even entering a marathon involves a lot of luck.
“These races are so, so hard to get into,” he explains. “It took me 10 years to get into Tokyo and Berlin.”
“It doesn’t matter if we run within five minutes of each other. That’s the other thing. He runs about two to three minutes slower than me,” McConnell says later. “That’s half a mile difference, and we’re only crossing each other at one intersection, and then we never see each other the rest of the time. So it’s like it’s a five-second moment caught on camera two different times.”
Using A.I., McConnell estimates in another video that the odds of this happening are one in the tens of billions. A subsequent video from the creator reiterates that they were not on a similar pace and that they did not usually hit similar circuits.
He Has An Update
McConnell says that, since posting his video, his “marathon stalker buddy” and he have been in contact.
“We got in touch with each other on Instagram,” he explains. “It turns out there’s a couple other weird little coincidences, the other being that we both got tattoos between the Berlin Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon and we got them on our legs…But he’s equally blown away by how unlikely this is.”
Now, the pair plan to meet in real life—intentionally this time.
“We’re gonna see if we can meet up in New York in 2027. I didn’t get in this year, and so far, he hasn’t gotten in this year, so most likely that’s his next major. That was also gonna be my next American major after Boston,” McConnell says. “So who knows? Maybe it happens and we meet up. Maybe we meet up before that and we go for a run and we film it and talk to each other on camera. We’ll see.”
Has Anything Like This Happened Before?
When McConnell posted his story to Facebook, some commenters claimed they had experienced something similar.
“I had something similar happen but on Strava! I ran several marathons, domestically and internationally and it said I ‘ran’ with other people – and one person kept on popping up!” wrote a user. “We awkwardly messaged each other on Strava, met in real life at our next marathon, and have been Strava friends ever since!”
“This is how my running buddy and I met. And now we meet up at different races even though we don’t live in the same town. We are pace mates,” offered another.
While some commenters on TikTok claimed that it wasn’t as special as McConnell claimed, it should be noted that both marathons mentioned—Berlin and Tokyo—are significant in size. The Berlin marathon had almost 80,000 participants in 2025, and Tokyo had over 37,000. What McConnell experienced is a real rarity, though only time will tell if it actually manages to occur a third time.
@farmerontherun This is blowing my mind…everything from the extreme difficulty of getting into a Tokyo and Berlin in the first place, getting into those races the same years, running next to each other for a very brief amount of time in each race AND the photographers taking those pictures at the short moment we are next to each other AND posting it?? We are in a simulation… we gotta find this guy so he sees this. His name is Aristonafis Stavrou from Greece. #marathonrunner #runningtiktok #simulation #freaky #tokyomarathon2026
BroBible reached out to McConnell via Instagram and TikTok direct message.