![]() For someone to go from couch potato to marathoner in eight or nine months of determined training is an extraordinary accomplishment.Īnd this quest for self-improvement and a deeper understanding of the limits of human capacity now goes way beyond the marathon-although the effects on health of extreme (some might say insane) endurance events are questionable and not all that well understood. ![]() The first-time marathon groups I see out running this time of year are as inspiring to me as Kipchoge. Indeed, one of the reasons marathon running has become so popular is that it enables us ordinary runners to learn those lessons about our own endurance capacity, both physical and mental. Why Kenyans make such great runners: a story of genes and culturesĮven if you couldn’t care less about distance running or world records, Kipchoge’s accomplishment is worth pondering for what it says about human endurance and what the body is capable of, in terms of cardiovascular strength and muscle efficiency. “This was Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in basketball, Usain Bolt’s 9.58 in the 100-meter dash.” “It was a performance so far superior to anything we’ve seen before that comparing it to another marathon feels inadequate,” running-news website said of Kipchoge’s new record. I’ve always said of world-class marathon times like this that if I didn’t know it could be done, I wouldn’t believe it was possible to run that fast for that long. He hadn’t just set a new marathon record he’d shattered the old one by a minute and 18 seconds, running the fast Berlin course in 2:01:39.Ĭonsider what that means: The 33-year-old Kipchoge, who is 5 foot 6 and weighs 115 pounds, had run 26 straight blazingly fast 4-minute 38-second miles. Somewhere around mile seven of my race along the Schuylkill River, I found myself marveling at what the great Kenyan distance runner, almost unquestionably the greatest marathoner ever, had just pulled off. One of the thrills for me of running Philadelphia and the other big half marathons and marathons is just being in the same race with world-class runners like Kipchoge, even though I usually only catch a glimpse of them at the start. We were packed into our corrals on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday morning, waiting to start the Rock ‘N’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon, when the announcement came: Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya had just set a new world marathon record across the world in Berlin. Kenyan marathoner has once again redefined what humans are capable of. A legendary Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya after setting a new world record in the marathon on Sunday in Berlin.FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS
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