Running To Make the World Beautiful

This was the the weekend to be a runner.

Eilud Kipchoge just after running an astonishing 1:59:40 he said “We can make this world beautiful by running”

It’s impossible to know what’s going through his mind when he says something like that. There is so much in this world that is ugly right now but let’s just leave it to the running world for a moment. Alberto Salazar stole the headlines last week and like I said it’s not over. More on that in a moment. But maybe Kipchoge is simply saying let’s take over the headlines with beautiful running. Listening to him for years now I’m quite confident he is actually talking about the World and not the running world. I love that about this man.

2:14:04
Brigid Kosgei smashed the World Record for the marathon yesterday in Chicago. She’s was clearly the favorite going into the race and there was lots of talk of her running fast. The story goes that she negotiated with her pacers a 2:17 marathon pace. At the start line she was feeling good and requested 2:16 pace. In the early miles she kept telling the pacers to pick it up and eventually she did what she did, smashed the world record set 16 years ago by Paula Radcliff. 2:14:04. Was she inspired by Kipchoge?

Salazar
Also in Chicago there were three runners with deep ties to Alberto Salazar. Just as an aside I’ve met and talked to all three. Mo Farah the 2 time Olympic Champion, Galen Rupp, the best American Marathoner and Jordan Hasay one of the best women marathoners from the USA. All three were either presently being coached or previously coached by Salazar. All three took a borage of questions from the media about their time with Salazar. All three had terrible races. Jordan dropped out early. Galen dropped out at 23 miles. Mo finished but just under 2:09. The winner of the race went 2:05:xx and he had to sprint to win so Mo wasn’t a factor in the race at all. Mo won Chicago last year.

Ironman World Championships
You ride for show and run for dough. It’s not that easy of course because the ride is in hot and windy conditions and then the run is simply unfathomable. This year however it was the run that made the race. The highlights;

1. Jan Frodeno ran 2:42:02 to set the new best time in Kona of 7:51:19. He had the mojo the entire day. In total control from the swim. 
2. Ben Hoffman my friend from my Zoot days ran 2:43:08. He simply ran out of real estate. He finished 4th. 
3. Annie Haug - She ran 2:51: 07 to win her first Ironman World Championship. 

Running Shoes

The overriding subject about this weekend is running shoes. Are the shoes too much of an advantage? 

Kipchoge had custom Nike Vapor Fly’s. Kosgei wore the Vapor Fly Next%. The top 3 women in Kona wore the Vapor Fly Next %. Jan Frodeno had a yet to be released Meta Ride Racer from Asics. Tim O’Donnell and Sebastian Kienle had carbon plated shoes from their sponsors Hoka One One and New Balance and then Ben Hoffman had the Vapor Fly Next % on his feet. 

There are many calling for the shoes to be banned but there is no chance that will happen. The shoes are too important to the general runner. I see those shoes worn by 5 hour marathoners. As they say, “that cat has left the building”. The Vapor Fly Next % and all the shoes from the other brands that are either in the market or about to be in the market are here to stay. It’s a great day in running shoes!