The Elusive Sub-2

No, I'm not talking about my own, personal elusive sub-2 half goal. I crushed that in September and then some.

Sub-2 here I come!...Oops, wrong sub-2

I'm talking about all of the murmurings about the possibility and even likelihood of someone achieving a sub-2 marathon in the relatively near future. Elusive indeed.

Obviously I've never had the priviledge (or lung capacity) to pass an elite runner, but during several races I've been fortunate enough to pass them running the other direction on an out and back course. Because, you know, they are already more than half way done and I'm only one mile in. Anyways, the point is, that when they pass you there is this incredible vortex wind flow that undulates off of these runners. It's as if they're moving so fast that the tiny bits of matter and air in front of them can't get out of the way fast enough. It's truly incredible to feel them whip by you as they create their own forces of wind using just their bodies.

Source

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past three days, you know that Geoffrey Mutai won the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday. You also know that he set a course record by 2 minutes 37 seconds finishing in 2:05:06. Yeah, that's a 4:46 pace. Ridiculous.


Literally airborne, Source

You also may know that the Mutai also won Boston back in April, setting a course record and a debateable world record with the fastest marathon time ever, finishing in 2:03:02. Unfortunately his Boston time was not sanctioned as a world record because Boston's course is net downhill and they were running with a tailwind. It's all BS if you ask me. Sure a net downhill and a tailwind may help you out a little, but your body has still got to be able to run 26.2 miles in two hours and three minutes. If anything, Mutai's win in New York this weekend was proof of his ability since, on a much tougher course and without a tailwind, he still finished with an amazing time. 

Source

 
So what exactly would a sub-2 hour marathon look like? Well for starters you'd have to average at least a 4:34 pace to make it right under the mark. BBC wrote an article on this subject recently in which they outlined several requirements for accomplishing this feat:

1. The perfect elite athlete - They specify someone from East Africa. I don't know enough about all elite runners and specifically East African runners to comment on this.

2. The perfect course - Perhaps even with a little downhill, but so long as it's a fast course it will do the job. They recommend London or Berlin, but it would be cool if the first sub-2 was in America (come to Philly - it's pretty flat here!) 

3. Perfect weather - my perfect running temperature is about 53 degrees F. The cooler the better I say. As well, obviously not having a headwind would be helpful.

4. Good pace setters - I'll point out here that I think it's interesting that men can run with pacers and get a world record time, but women cannot start at the same time as men and have their potential times count as a woman's world record. Set me straight if I'm wrong - can a man with a pacer set a course or world record? 

 5. Lots of dough - Money, money, money. It not only costs a lot of money to put a race on, but the more money you have to offer the winners or record breakers, the more incentive they will have to do well.

Do I think there is a sub-2 marathon in our future? Absolutely! I can only hope that I'll be around to witness it!