Already, there are articles out there which claim the feat achieved by Eliud Kipchoge, a 26.2 mile run in less than 2 hours this past Saturday, is fake. Crazy. The media these days will say and do anything to get clicks. Not us. On Saturday, in Vienna, Mr. Kipchoge, achieved something some of us can only dream of.
First, let me give you some context, the legend of the first marathon is based on a story of a messenger running to Sparta to ask for help during the battle of Marathon in Greece. The legend goes on to say that at the end of running to Sparta and sharing the message, the messenger died from exhaustion. Legend is legend, I’ll give you that, so let’s use some real data. The current fastest, official, record is of 2:01:39. That record is also held by Mr. Kipchoge and took place in 2018 at the Berlin Marathon. His new record of 1:59:40 is 2 minutes faster.
In order to achieve anything close to a 2 hour marathon, Mr. Kipchoge would have to run at an average pace of about 4.5 minutes per mile, or about 13 miles an hour. 13 miles per hour is about as fast as most people can pedal on a bicycle. Think about that.
Here is more perspective, not long ago, running a 4-minute mile was an impossibility. It just could not be done. To run a mile in 4 minutes you need to run at an average speed of 15 miles an hour. This means that Mr. Kipchoge ran 2 miles an hour slower than the 4-minute mile requirement, but he did it for an additional 115 minutes. Imagine that, you run at close the maximum pace known to men until just a few years and you do it for 2 hours. That is INSANE. That is something we should all take pride in, that a fellow human can show us and inspire us to reach for what we, at one time, thought as impossible.
And for those saying “but he used a group of people to make him more aerodynamic”, or “he was wearing the latest and greatest shoes”, or “this was staged in the perfect venue, where the course was as flat as possible”, to you I say, don’t try running a 4.5-minute mile, just try walking 26.2 miles and then speak. Until then, take in the pride of being a fellow human and know that you could also achieve this, you just need to try it yourself.
