IF YOU'VE EVER watched Eliud Kipchoge run on TV, it is possible that your brain has thought, you know, he actually doesn't look like he's going all that fast.
Your brain is wrong. If you cheer at his next marathon, he will seem to blow by. If he passed you on a running path, he'd be gone faster than your dignity after eating a pre-group-run burrito. But because the motorbike-mounted camera is keeping that same incredible 13mph pace, our gray matter fails us. Our visual perception of motion relies on our brain's ability to compute how fast something is moving relative to objects around it. So if you've never witnessed Kipchoge in person, rest assured, he is going very, very fast.
At his marathon pace, he could literally run around the world in-wait for it-just under 80 days. He could run to the moon in 18,233 hours and 12 minutes. And he could kick it down Route 66 in just over a week.
It's not like Kipchoge is the only fast marathoner on the planet. In a Kipchoge-less world (perish the thought), we could be writing here about the world's second fastest marathoner ever, Kenenisa Bekele. His 2:01:41 from Berlin 2019 is not quite 0.4 percent slower-just 32 seconds-than Kipchoge's official 2:01:09 world record. But it's in that sliver of seconds where Kipchoge becomes a legend. It's why he was chosen to break the two-hour barrier-and why he pulled it off.
Slapping GOAT on every athlete having a moment isn't particularly scientific-or accurate. Superlatives unanchored by context tend to just float toward hyperbole. The greatest show on earth? Says who? The country's best yogurt? Using what metric? We wanted to understand that line between great and greatness-both what defines it statistically and creates it physically.
Denne historien er fra Issue 03, 2023-utgaven av Runner's World US.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 03, 2023-utgaven av Runner's World US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
At 9 Years Old, He Fled War in Sudan. NOW HE'S MAKING HISTORY.
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INSIDE THE CANDY-CHOMPING, PAIN-FUELED, INFECTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC WORLD OF COURTNEY DAUWALTER
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He Was One of the Best Ultrarunners in the World. THEN RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE
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HOW TO FIND CREATE YOUR PACES
IT WAS A hot summer afternoon on Cold Soil Road, and I had just finished the \"First Speed Run,\" a guided run in the Nike Run Club app.
COULD YOU TEACH YOUR CAT TO RUN?
**EYE OF THE TIGER' was written for you, Fiona!\" I cry, pointing at our one-eyed, 4-year-old black cat resting on our carpet. Hearing her name, she rolls onto her back, offering her stomach for a belly rub. But this is no time for pampering. I need to tell her my master plan.
RUN RIGHT PAST IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
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WHICH RUNNING GEAR IS-AND ISN'T-WORTH YOUR MONEY
RUNNING, AT ITS Core, is a relatively low-gear sport, but people love to bemoan that it's increasingly expensive. I agree-paying $120 for a long-sleeve T-shirt or shelling out hundreds for compression boots seems bonkers to me.
STOP TRYING TO IMPROVE THE SAFETY PIN. IT'S PERFECT AS IS.
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WHY RACING A 5K FEELS MENTALLY MORE CHALLENGING THAN A HALF MARATHON
STANDING ON THE starting line of any race-but especially when I'm vying for a faster finish time-I feel a twinge of anxiety pop up, whispering worries in my ear that something might go wrong. For example, I'll miss my goal and all the hard work of training will have been for nothing. Or I'll end up slogging through the miles and regretting every step. Or worse, I'll find myself injured and sidelined.
