There are simply some feats in the sporting world that are awe-inspiring.
Even though I have never run a marathon, I know a few people who have and I know enough to know that the running of a marathon in under two hours is one of the all time barriers that has never been done...until today.
Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge on Saturday became the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours, blowing through the barrier by nearly 20 seconds in a special event in Vienna.
With thousands cheering him on, Kipchoge completed the 26.2-mile challenge in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.
As he crossed the finish line, the 34-year-old pounded his palms on his chest and smiled brightly, then let a throng of fans hoist him into the air.
“I’m the happiest man,” said Kipchoge, a Kenyan flag draped over his shoulders. “No human is limited. You can do it.”
Derek Hawkins at the Washington Post goes on to explain that Kipchoge’s achievement will not be officially recorded in the record books because it was not an “open event.”
Despite being the fastest marathon ever recorded, Kipchoge’s time won’t count as an official world record because the run didn’t take place in an open event. The challenge, backed by the British chemical company Ineos, was held on a closed 6-mile course in a park in the Austrian capital, and Kipchoge was aided in the run by more than three-dozen pacemakers who rotated in and out several at a time throughout the race.
I mean, now I can imagine what it must have felt like to be alive when Britain’s Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile barrier...or thinkof any number of achievements that were thought to be impossible for any human being to achieve.