He broke the marathon

From Alex Hutchinson’s article on last Sunday’s Berlin Marathon: Eliud Kipchoge didn’t just break the marathon world record; he broke the marathon. Hutchinson wrote that, during the Nike Breaking2 attempt last year at the Monza racetrack, Kipchoge had told a reporter, “The difference only is thinking. You think it’s impossible, I think it’s possible.” Though initially not convinced, Hutchinson, after Kipchoge had run that unofficial 2:00:25 world record, began rethinking. Then, after last Sunday, he now thinks one "can draw a direct line between 2:00:25 at Breaking2 and 2:01:39 in Berlin."

What happened last Sunday changed everything. Everyone is rethinking the sub-2-hour marathon.

The coordinates of reference for a marathon have changed. In this latter post, I’d asked, does Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 at Monza make it easier for him or others to better Dennis Kimetto’s then official WR of 2:02.57? Have the coordinates of reference for a sub-2-hour marathon changed sufficiently? It sure looks that way! I’d also asked, for mere mortals like myself, how to change the coordinates of reference in order to run one’s personal sub-whatever? Maybe, after last Sunday, the question should be, has Kipchoge’s stunning achievement also changed the coordinates of reference for the rest of us?

Here are some amazing stats from Kipchoge’s WR run. And this one from Twitter (@mescottdouglas): Kipchoge ran his second half in 60:33; only four Americans have run faster in an open half marathon. (2:01:39 is almost twice as fast as my PR--at least his second half is not twice as fast as my half marathon PR!) Kipchoge’s times in the following table are hard for me to even imagine. I think my new goal (after Boston) is to run ONE outdoor lap in 69 seconds. :)

Distance	Average pace
Mile	4:38.4
5K	14:24.9
1 lap outdoor track	00:69.2

Here’s a short video from Runner’s World, in which Kipchoge said, after setting the new WR, “The lesson of running is to train well, and then have full faith in your training and show the proof in the race.” Before he broke the record, Kipchoge had said, “I keep running for its beauty. You have to love running. Yes, the pain is there, but it’s part of the joy. The marathon is like life.”

Oh, how true! The marathon is the perfect metaphor for life.