I just finished reading "The Perfect Mile," a splendid book by Neal Bascomb that covers the exploits of Bannister, Santee, and Landy as they attempted to break 4. The media circus and hype surrounding the trio was ridiculous.
With Haile Gebrselassie (Why doesn't spellcheck recognize this man's name yet?) lowering the world record all the way to 2:03:59, is a sub 2-hour marathon possible? And more to the point, why is it less of a big deal than a 4-minute mile?