A decade ago, I would’ve bet everything I own that I would not live long enough to witness a sub two hour marathon. Now, Kelvin Kiptum has me worried that my days are numbered. Very numbered.
How far could you run in 2:00:35? If I trained seriously and had a good day, I’d be 11.2 miles behind Kiptum.
• I’m disappointed I didn’t get the call to help pace Kipchoge in Austria Friday. I could easily maintain 13.1 miles per hour. . . on a mountain bike.
• I’ve always said I’ll never see a sub 2 hour marathon. Now I have to acknowledge I may. Among other miscalculations, I didn’t account for the technological improvement in shoes.
• Kipchoge is a high character guy who may be on nothing more than oatmeal, his pre-race breakfast. On the other hand, Kosgei’s drastic improvement, coupled with the litany of suspended female Kenyan long distances runners, makes me highly suspicious of her performance in Chicago Sunday. Lots of people assumed Radcliffe, the previous world record holder, was running dirty too.
• Many East African runners grow up poor with limited education making them vulnerable to exploitation by family, friends, national coaches, and managers. The sad underreported story of East African running success is one of sudden unimaginable wealth being squandered in short order. For the sake of his family, I hope Kipchoge can break the cycle of successful Kenyan marathoners mismanaging their money.
1. Recent study concludes “There’s No Safe Amount of Alcohol”. The New York Times reports that “the truth is much less newsy and much more measured”. I’ll have a drink to that.
“The population level average of daily drinks is 1.9 for women and 3.2 for men, according to the study.”
That’s worrisome.
2. Women, consider this line of work if you want to be paid the same as men. Great catch phrase, “Equal by nature.”
3A. Why Columbia keeps producing talented cyclists.
3B. Christopher Blevins. One of the U.S.’s most promising cyclists who despite being a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, digs the humanities, and is down with slam poetry. The philosophy of his junior team. . . “Never forget the fun.”
3C. Kate Courtney. The U.S.’s and now world’s best mountain biker. A Stanford student. We can just call these two “brains on bikes”. Dig this vid of Courtney’s recent World Championship victory. Start at around 1 hour, 46 minutes.
4. Eliud Kipchoge. The GOAT. . . greatest of all time, threw down in Berlin yesterday. Despite those 78 seconds, I stand by my prediction that I will not live long enough to see anyone trim an additional 100 seconds.
5. How much should you spend remodeling a house for maximum profit?
Pressing Pause 