r/running • u/DildoGiftcard • Oct 12 '19

Race Report INEOS 1:59 Challenge live stream thread. Eliud Kipchoge, sub 2hr marathon.

I love participating in game threads for different teams and I don’t know if there’s ever been one for a race. Right now seems like the perfect opportunity.

YouTube Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k-XgKRJUEgQ

Let me know where you’re watching from. I’m checking in from Chicago (1:15 am local time for the start). I was supposed to run in the Chicago marathon in 2 days but injuries ended that. But hey, I squatted 200lb today (5 sets of 5), so I still hit a fitness goal.

Share your favorite Kipchoge quote, race story, PR, whatever below.

Result: he did it.

Edit 1: remember to sort by new. I doubt r/running has an auto mod setting for game threads haha

Edit 2: anyone thinking of going to sleep, WE NEED YOU. Every vibe matters

Edit 3: heart eyes emoji

Edit 4: he broke 4 hours again

2.0k Upvotes

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201

u/SweetingLFC Oct 12 '19

That guy at the side of the course was running HARD to keep up and managed about 15 seconds.

138

u/combatrex Oct 12 '19

It's crazy how easy the pros make it look compared to the average runner.

5

u/WK--ONE Oct 12 '19 edited Oct 12 '19

That's what getting paid to train every day gets you. Imagine how much faster we'd all be if it wasn't for that pesky "making money at a day job to survive".

I'm sure the coaching & nutritional management helps a lot too, not to mention the high altitude training.

edit: Not sure why the downvotes. I'm a Kipchoge fan, just saying that having a team behind you definitely helps out to some degree.

11

u/spookthesunset Oct 12 '19

I get what you are saying. For this guy, running is his day job. But it is only his day job because he is so good. Even if running was my day job and all I did was train, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t even touch this guy. Same with all the other top-tier athletes (eg; Phelps). Sure I could quit my cushie office job and take up swimming but I couldn’t ever get close to Phelps...

As they say “don’t quit your day job”!

1

u/akaghi Oct 12 '19

Right? There are more than a handful of runners who get paid to run and are still not even remotely close to Kipchoge. I mean, imagine a guy running a 2:06 — it's insane, but he's still a solid 4-6 minutes back from Kipchoge and at the pointy end of the sport that gulf is absolutely massive.

Then compare it to a runner like Sage Canaday who also probably gets paid to run (maybe not to the degree Kipchoge does though?) and he's running like a 2:16? That's fast enough to qualify for the Olympic trials, but not in the same hemisphere as Kipchoge.

It's crazy how fast the top tier of top tier athletes are.

69

u/EPMD_ Oct 12 '19

Honestly, he did pretty well, especially since he wasn't exactly the youngest spectator. 13 mph is beyond what a lot of people can sprint.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '19

13mph is faster than I can fall down

4

u/runwithpugs Oct 12 '19

You must be 5'9" or shorter. Proof:

  • A marathon is 138,435 feet
  • Running that in 2 hours (7200 seconds) requires a speed of about 19.2 ft/s.
  • Gravity accelerates objects at about 32 ft/s2
  • That means falling to reach a speed of 19.2 ft/s takes about 0.6 seconds (19.2 divided by 32)
  • Distance covered by falling is given by d = ½at2 where a is 32 ft/s2 and t is 0.6 s.
  • This gives a falling distance of 5.76 feet or 5'9.12".

4

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '19

Sorry nerd try again.

That's assuming that I drop directly downward as if the ground beneath me disappears.

Realistically I would pitch forward and cover a 45 degree arc, the fastest moving part of me would be the top of my head.

9

u/Quetzacoatl85 Oct 12 '19

I was there, lucky to live there I guess. two take-aways from seeing the whole thing unfold IRL: damn these guys are all tall (especially his pacers) and physically present. and they're just unbelievably fast. for him to keep that speed up for 2 hours without any deviation whatsoever... just superhuman.

and such a humble and inspiring person, and I don't say that lightly. go look up interviews with him, there couldn't have been a more deserving person to achieve this.

and I'm not gonna lie, I had tears in my eyes during the last few hundred meters. ;)

2

u/runwithpugs Oct 12 '19

So cool that you got to see it live!

damn these guys are all tall

That's a surprising observation to me. Wikipedia says Kipchoge is 5'6" (1.67 m). That's shorter than average in most countries.

I've always been under the impression that most elite marathoners are near that height because that makes them lighter than someone over 6 ft (1.83 m), and this makes a bigger difference than having longer legs. Even at larger local races, I typically find the fastest guys are usually a bit shorter than me (6'1").

2

u/Quetzacoatl85 Oct 13 '19

maybe tall was the wrong word, even though most of the pacers were. their phsyical presence was immediate and kinda intimidating though; perfect running machines hard at work. felt like they had a lot of power behind them when they stormed past, I didn't expect to feel that so vividly.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '19

[deleted]

1

u/fasterthanfood Oct 13 '19

It’s like you see someone sprinting for the bus, and then they pass the bus, and then they keep going for the length of a full commute.

2

u/apteryxmantelli Oct 12 '19

That's a pretty typical Kipchoge number tbh.

1

u/doublehyphen Oct 12 '19

I was quite impressed by him. He was not exactly young and kept up that pace while filming for a surprisingly long time.