This Year Will Be Different (Seriously)
For about a 15-year period until this past year, the men’s and women’s marathon world records have produced a fascinating contrast. The men’s mark has been slowly chiseled down a touch over two minutes in predictable baby steps of about 20–30 seconds per breakthrough. Each new mark also seemed to come like clockwork every couple of years (mostly on the favourably fast streets of Berlin). Meanwhile, Paula Radcliffe’s performances from back in 2002–2005, culminating in a 2:15:25 in 2003, have been untouchable. No one has come close – even convicted dopers weren’t able to come within two minutes of her time. This all changed in 2017.
Two performances this past spring were different, and not just in their outcomes, but also because of the style in which they were executed. At the London Marathon in April, Mary Keitany took out the race hard, in what commentators were describing as “suicide pace.” She ran deep into the race ahead of Radcliffe’s 2003 pace (splitting halfway in 1:06:54), and the internet freaked out, calling her foolish in real-time on Twitter. And then she even passed her own pacer, deciding to run a faster clip on her own. Keitany’s tactics were wild and they didn’t seem to make much sense, at least not based on convention – but convention wasn’t delivering the extraordinary. So Keitany just decided to ignore the previous rules of the game, ignore the mounting pain and see what awaited her in the realm of the unknown.
By contrast, Eliud Kipchoge participated in the most unusual marathon in years, Nike’s ultra-controlled Breaking2 experiment. We covered it extensively (I was fortunate enough to stand trackside and report on it for Canadian Running), and contributing editor Alex Hutchinson was there, at work developing his important new book, Endure (read our review on p.68), which fittingly tackles athletes’ bold ambitions, including Eliud Kipchoge’s quest to break the two-hour barrier in the marathon.
On the surface, both Keitany and Kipchoge ultimately fell short of their audacious goals. Keitany did indeed slow down after splitting the fastest first half in women’s marathoning history. But she still managed to hang on to a 2:17:01, the second fastest time ever. Kipchoge actually did even better, missing breaking two hours by a mere 26 seconds. Although his heavily modified race experience disqualified him from claiming a new world record, he still ran arguably the greatest marathon of all-time.
Keitany and Kipchoge’s contrasting yet impressive outcomes felt like a part of something bigger – something new in distance running, and perhaps in endurance sports in general. It seemed to suggest that our previous ideas about the limits of human performance are, perhaps, all in our heads. As writer Jessica Aldred explores in her feature, ‘Rethink Your Running Identity’ (p. 46), sometimes a breakthrough is as simple as trying something different. But, as we see from the successes and herdships of our 10th annual Golden Shoe Award winners (p.38), the greatest success comes from setting Kipchogean goals and if you fail don’t give up, but instead double down on the challenge, as Gary Robbins has with the Barkley Marathons. Just like Eliud Kipchoge and Mary Keitany, Canada’s most inspiring and impressive runners throughout 2017 refused to limit themselves, and instead figured out a way forward.
In 2018, when you’re about to do something extraordinary, remember: look ahead, and don’t forget to smile, especially if you’re suffering.