Eliud Kipchoge is now the first man to run 26.2 miles in less than two hours as he clocked 1:59:40 today

Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya and the current world record holder for the marathon made history today by running 26.2 miles in 1:59:40.  His splits were amazing.  His fastest kilometer was 2:48 and his slowest was 2:52.  At least 19 of his splits were 2:50 on the dot. 

He hit the first 5k in 14:13 with his pacemakers right by his side.  He looked relaxed and smooth.  Just watching him gave me goosebumps because he makes it look so easy.

 LThe course in Vienna, Austria was 90% flat and straight..  The temperature was just under 50F and the humidity was higher than expected at 90 percent at the start.  

Eliud said before the start, “I don’t know where the limits are, but I would like to go there.”

”I did a poll on Facebook several hours ago,” says MBR editor Bob Anderson.  “All but one person thought he could run sub two hours for the distance.  One thought he could run 1:55 but most thought 1:59 something.”

No this is not a race.  No matter what is his time it won’t be a world record.  It was a time trial to see if a person can run 42k in under two hours.  At the end of the day, Eliud Kipchoge will still be the world record holder.  He clocked 2:01:39 at the Berlin Marathon last September. 

Eliud was just under an hour at the half way point and actually ran a negative split to finish in 1:59:40.  The pacemakers helped Eliud run 2:50 kilometers on the dot from 33k to 40k.  That’s 14:10 5k pace.

Then with about 500 meters to go the pacemakers let Kipchoge go and he sprinted to the finish line.    Shalane Flanagan who was one of the hosts of the You Tube broadcast said,”No way in my life time did I ever think I would see a man run a sub two hour marathon.”

We have now seen a man run a marathon in under two hours.  His wife Grace and their three children watched him race for the first time.  They were all smiles.  

posted Friday October 11th
by Bob Anderson