I think you guys are missing two likely possibilities. First, a big part of training is pain management, and perhaps transcendence. For example, I used to light a strike anywhere match with a wooden stem, then I would set it on my forearm and watch it slowly burn down the length of the stem. No pain, no flinching. When you walk to a starting line having done this, you fear nobody and nothing.
Secondly, you lie, you masquerade, in order to intimidate. If Kiptum claims he has no pain, and Kipchoge believes him, it could be the knockout punch for Kipchoge’s mental warfare.
When you cross a finish line, you walk away, totally upright, so as to “make it look easy,” so as to win the mental battle with your competitors.
You guys need to watch a Muhammad Ali or Courtney DeWaulter movie.
Bottom line, you cannot set the marathon WR without great fitness and a great mental game. Kiptum has either defeated pain or lied to himself throughly enough as to believe he doesn’t feel it. A champion.
You better believe KK would be the only survivor of a plane crash or the guy that repels a lion. He’s a warrior that uses marathoning as his canvas.