Wisdom from the World's Best Marathoner as he Prepares for London

Eliud Kipchoge, the Olympic marathon champion and winner of seven consecutive world-class marathons (and counting), offer some advice. “In the marathon, the first half is just a normal run. At 15k to 20k everybody is still going to be there. Where the marathon starts is after 30k. That’s where you feel pain everywhere in your body. The muscles are really aching, and only the most prepared and well-organized athlete is going to do well after that. I’ll go with the pace, but after 30k, I’ll change to my own pace. And if you’re ready to follow me, then we can go together.” On managing pain during a marathon: “When I have a lot of pain, I try to confuse my mind to forget about the pain and think about the distance. I don’t want pain to be in my mind, because I’d really lose focus on running. After winning, you won’t have that pain, but it comes later, the next day, you don’t go up or down stairs.”

posted Thursday March 1st