Wilson Kipsang and Patrick Makau going for WR at Berlin Marathon, say sub-2:03 may be possible

You are forgetting that Makau ran last fall in Frankfurt and won in 2:06 in very unfavorable conditions. The weather was cold with freezing temperatures for much of the race, and not negligible winds (over 10mph). I had my clients in that race, and it was impossible to run at the intended pace without huge energy costs. Makau ran very smart, let the second placer get ahead of him and then surged at the right moment. After finishing, he had stated that he had not even attempted to run at WR pace, once he had seen the temperature and the wind.

He may very well break the WR in Berlin.

Raptured wrote:

After London this year, it seems like he isn't able to hang for long at WR pace anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

You can't judge a marathoner off of one race like that.

Anyways, no matter what happens tactically, I guarantee the winner will not be as high as the ballpark of 2:09...

The key for Patrick Makau is to have a disciplined build up to this race. As long as he gets the appearance fees for being the world record holder he will probably continue with his current lifestyle. Although one big push for 2-3 months may be enough to get him in 2.05-2.06 shape but nothing more.

Wow. Fascinating thread, thank you for opening up all these intriguing plot lines in the coming marathons.

I spoke to Patrick a couple of days ago and will probably see him next week. He says he feels like he's in good shape, and the fact that he ended up running a slow time in London meant that he could leap back into good training fairly quickly.

Still, he says that you can never tell on the big day how things will go. Wise words.

It's so hard to tell with the Kenyans -- there is of course the classic Wanjiru case of getting rich, big house, women etc etc pressure and then they go off the rails. But Makau and Wilson Kipsang seem to be very level headed and both very keen to show they still have it.

We also take it for granted that these guys can knock out 2:05's like it's a walk in the park. When talking marathons with the Kenyan elite, they still have big respect for the distance and understand full well that things can either way when they're at the edge. So it's pretty much impossible to write anyone off or bet on WR's. Still, I think the Kenyan pack at Berlin makes for a really interesting mix of new and old blood.

Berlin + Chicago + Mo/Geb/Bekele at the GNR will make for some really interesting races ahead.