He’s scared to run a real marathon. Just wants to time trial or run a cheater race to have the general population think he legitimately ran under 2hrs.
And here's another, so a slow hilly hobby joggers course is a "real marathon" and he's scared to run it.
Eliud must be pissing himself with laughter if he's reading some of these posts.
He’s scared to run a real marathon. Just wants to time trial or run a cheater race to have the general population think he legitimately ran under 2hrs.
And here's another, so a slow hilly hobby joggers course is a "real marathon" and he's scared to run it.
Eliud must be pissing himself with laughter if he's reading some of these posts.
Word.
Kipchoge is not required to entertain you, or seek the most challenging courses, "collect the set", or mix with the deepest fields.
Berlin is his best chance of turning in a respectively fast time and high placing. Bonus - no jet lag.
Talk of him setting a WR is more publicity than reality. He turns 38 later this year. Even Kipchoge can't escape Father Time.
10
2
Robert Johnson should be destitute like the drunk bum he is
Bit disappointed really, thought he would go for New York to tick off another Major.
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
Surprised this hasn't come up yet in this thread. I think a lot of this is about Bekele. He got just about as close to breaking Kipchoge's record as one can get. I bet Kipchoge is thinking Yeah I have the record, but it literally just got matched. Can you imagine what Kipchoge was thinking as Bekele was finishing out that race??? I bet he thought he'd never live to see ANYONE get that close in his lifetime, and to have Bekele basically match it probably was a huge shock. I'm sure Kipchoge would love nothing more than to lower it another minute or so and really but some distance between him and Bekele.
Yada Yada Yada, Everyone is complaining about Kipchoge not running the NYC Marathon. While I would love to see him run NY since I live in NJ, he can do whatever he wants. Everyone here will be watching him run regardless. The whole shirt idea is sophmoric and a childish idea. He has time to run NY and Boston when he is ready. Personally I hope he runs a world record and will be excited to watch him run and finally, I hope Bekele has a good run in London.
It's just ridiculous how some people here are ooh he should have run New York, ooh he should have run Boston blah blah blah...
Men! Better swallow your regrets and suggestions. It's Kipchoge's life. He can run whatever race he races. It's his life and choice. Let me ask those complaining of him running Berlin and not Boston/NY: who controls or suggests what you do with your life?
Get a life complainers. Even if Kipchoge choses to retire without running Boston/ NY, it's his life and choice. He's achieved more on the marathon global stage than any marathoner known to have lived. Do something better with your life than complaining over someone's choices. Alaaah!!!!
Weak sauce. I'm on vacation now but when I get back to office I'm going to work on designing a shirt that has a goat mouthing, "I'm scared of NYC."
Of course Kipchoge is scared of NYC. Dirty streets, arrogant people, a weak field that he had to jog 30km to make it entertaining with all those 2'10 guys. It's a lot safer to break WR in Berlin or race the 2'03 guys in London.
The problem is, London moves back to April, highly unlikely Kipchoge runs Boston in 2023. He said he wants to win all 6 majors, should get it done as soon as possible. Wouldn’t be good if he just does a fareware tour of the last 2 majors.
A marathon is a race against yourself and against the clock.
I have run 10 marathons, and except for Boston, all of them were flat. In the beginning, I didn't care about the course, but in the process, I started wanting to improve my time so I always chose a flat course.
I ran 3:10 at age 48 setting a PR in April. I probably have 2-3 years to set a new PR. I won't waste any chances on a slow course.
Mutatis mutandis, on a completely different level, this is what Kipchoge thinks.
Surprised this hasn't come up yet in this thread. I think a lot of this is about Bekele. He got just about as close to breaking Kipchoge's record as one can get. I bet Kipchoge is thinking Yeah I have the record, but it literally just got matched. Can you imagine what Kipchoge was thinking as Bekele was finishing out that race??? I bet he thought he'd never live to see ANYONE get that close in his lifetime, and to have Bekele basically match it probably was a huge shock. I'm sure Kipchoge would love nothing more than to lower it another minute or so and really but some distance between him and Bekele.
Yeah, I thought about it from this angle. Since everyone in the “Bekele undeniable GOAT” camp (seemingly the majority) is quick to point out that Bekele ran within two seconds of Kipchoge’s WR, maybe Kipchoge would like to spoil that argument and further assert his dominance of the marathon distance.
I don’t actually believe he’s going to lower his own WR - but I definitely respect his attempting to do so! I think the people assuming he’s going for sub-2 are off the mark. Do you guys realize how aided/illegal those sub-2 exhibitions were? Illegal shoes, illegal pacing, flat loop courses on deliberately perfect weather days. Do you realize what a difference there is between 2:01:39 and 1:59:59 at this supreme level? If he runs 2:01:38, less than 6 weeks shy of his 38th birthday, it will be utterly fantastic. At that point the all-time top-5 would be:
1. Eliud Kipchoge 2:01:38
2. Eliud Kipchoge 2:01:39
3. Kenenisa Bekele 2:01:41
4. Eliud Kipchoge 2:02:37
5. Eliud Kipchoge 2:02:40
(Assuming nobody cracks 2:02:40 between now and then, or at Berlin.)
That’s dominance.
Finally, somewhat unrelated: I’m eagerly anticipating what Jacob Kiplimo can do at the marathon. Could be wishful fandom, but I think he’s the next 2:01 guy. Could be Wariner-800m type thinking, but think how comfortably he could split 60:45.
In my opinion, Kipchoge should not have declared his intention to win all 6 majors that easily. NY may have offered lower appearance fee upon hearing that, knowing that he will have ti do their race at some point any way to complete the WMM. Meanwhile Berlin May have bid more money to get Kipchoge back. They love him there.
He wants to attempt or get as close to 2 hours in a real race, why wouldn’t he run the flattest course until he doesn’t think he can attempt it successfully
The USA are B races, so he can save those until he can’t break records any more and still be competitive, plus the pay day is poor.
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
Agree. So disappointing and, frankly, "lame." I'll give him one out: If he earnestly believes that he'll be as competitive two years from now as he is now: Not likely, sorry. Nevertheless, I agree. Gretzky never picked the teams he played against to set records and win cups for the Oilers. Nor did Jordan, etc. etc, etc. you get the point.
If he ran both NYC and Boston and won (then the Olympics), I would have said that he was the greatest ATHLETE of all time. Not now. Winning on a flat course with super shoes just isn't comparatively more difficult than the achievements of greats in road racing or other sports.
Sorry, he goes down many rungs on the ladder of greatness. I hope he proves me wrong, though. He seems to be a great person off of the "roads" so my criticism is strictly under the lens of OVERALL and all time athletic greatness. Call me disappointed but forgiving.
money, money, money, I guess.
I wanted him to switch to 1500 on the track this year, but he never does what I want.
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