The sub-two hour marathon has been an obsession for many, and on October 12th, 2019, a 34 year old Kenyan man ran the fastest marathon ever in Vienna, Austria. Obviously a modest man, Eliud credited his team of pacers for his remarkable feat. He beat his own record, given that he had run the Berlin marathon in record time just last year at 2 hours and 1 minute. Every report emphasized, however, that it had not been an official race, the route was chosen for its flat nature, and credit was given to Nike's newist technical pair of shoes called Vaporfly that will be all the rage henceforth. All discrediting comments aside, it is an amazing moment of human achievement! Trevor Noah's take on it was bang on!
I wasn't around for the sub-4 minute mile, but I have long awaited the day when the sub-2 hour marathon was run. I cannot imagine running a 4 minute kilometer, and I am impressed beyond words for a four minute mile, but to run an average of 4.52 minute miles during a gruelling 26.2 miles is mind-blowing! It's hard to believe that in the first modern Olympics in 1896, the Greek runner to set a record ran it in 3:11:27. That's a big difference from today's top athlete!
When I sat down to write about this remarkable day, I saw that today the women's world record was broken in the Chicago marathon by Kenya runner Brigid Kosgei! This was for the first time since 2003 when Paula Radcliffe broke the record in London. She was awarded with a bonus of $75,000 for beating the course record as well, over the equal gender prizes of $100,000 each. That's a long way from the female entrance to marathons, paved by Kathrine Switzer, who was harassed and assaulted for having the audacity to run as the first woman in the Boston Marathon in 1967.
Congratulations, Mr Kipchoge! Congratulations Ms. Kosgei! Congratulations to Nike and all those scientists and engineers at INEOS 1:59 that made this day possible! I cannot be more proud!
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