Kenenisa Bekele Going for the World Record in the Marathon.... in Dubai in Less Than 2 Weeks

TaniaTIGER=TaniaTIGERkittenWOW wrote:

Now my knighted Sir SlowMo

Listen you losers, from now on it's:

Sir Mohamed and Lady Farah , got it?

After his run in Berlin, it's pretty tough to deny that Kenenisa is already the GOAT, for long distance running in general.

But, like 'Montreal', I have a difficult time considering someone the marathon GOAT unless they have won a major on something with some hills on it, as in Boston or New York. I don't know the Tokyo course, but the other three majors are almost pancake-flat. Well, London has a few minor ups and downs, and a slight overpass climb around 19 miles as you make the turn back toward town. But there's nothing in those three like the tough Newton hills, at miles 15-19. Or the nasty bridges in New York - I remember about five of them, including a mile or so up the Verrazano-Narrows within the first few steps.

I have nothing against the flat, basically track-meet courses, it isn't easy to hold pace for 26.2 miles, even with pacers and nothing to climb and force you to vary your stride.

But to be the marathon GOAT, I think you have to show a bit of versatility, and win over a variety of terrains, as well as win with and without pacers, and possibly even in a range of weather conditions, in both cold and warm weather.

As for G Mutai, I would agree that he had arguably the greatest marathon year in 2011, winning Boston and New York in absolutely stunning times (Boston was wind-aided, I know, but his other-worldly 2:05:06 in New York is possibly the greatest race ever run). But the GOAT? That seems a bit of an over-reach. He has never run particularly well in London, and although he won once at Berlin (2:04:15) in 2012, there are many who say second-place Dennis Kimetto held back during the final stretch, showing deference to the man who had brought him into the sport, who had brought him to Berlin as a pacer, and who needed the win to grab the million dollar majors title. His other Berlin attempt was a second (2:05:10) in 2010. So while he has run extremely well on flat courses, IMO he hasn't been dominant.

In addition, he flamed out rather quickly. He won many smaller races between 2008 and 2010, but 2011 was his only really great year. He DNFd in the heat in Boston in 2012, ran well in Berlin but came up short of the world record (although as I remember, he was hampered by the lead vehicle showing him inaccurate times, and had to try and pick it up late when he realized the problem). Then he won NY in 2013 in a slowish time of 2:08:24 (the winds were pretty rough that year), and then he was basically done in the marathon.

Right now, my vote for the marathon GOAT would go to Wilson Kipsang, who has won in NY, Berlin (1 win 1 second), and London (2 wins 1 second)

He has also won the NY half marathon, which is not as tough as the full 26.2, but still has a pretty hilly first 6 miles through Central Park. Also, he had a stretch from 2010 to 2014 where he was unbeatable, even managing to take the Honolulu marathon and the Great North Run in 2012, after winning London that spring. He has held the world record (Berlin 2013), and as he showed with his 2:03:13 in Berlin last year, second to Kenenisa, he is still a threat to win any time he runs.

All that said, if Kenenisa can keep at it long enough to run either Boston or New York, I think he could absolutely destroy the fields and probably course records too. He was possibly the greatest cross-country runner of all time, had no trouble with the hills in the Great North Run. He glides effortlessly up and down hills, and I would not see him having any difficulty whatsoever with the Newton hills or with New York's bridges.

But he's got to stay healthy and motivated long enough to run them.

MrStephen, please summarize.

Sir Mohamed and Lady Farah wrote:

TaniaTIGER=TaniaTIGERkittenWOW wrote:

Now my knighted Sir SlowMo

Listen you losers, from now on it's:

Sir Mohamed and Lady Farah , got it?

Update Mo is training somewhere far away at 7,000ft. altitude:

Hypo2

January 3 at 12:15pm ·

Abbey D'Agostino and her teammates from Team New Balance Boston are back in Flagstaff for a training camp. Did you see her amazing display of Sportsmanship from the #Rio2016 Olympics? Abbey tore her ACL in her heat of the 5,000-meter run in Rio, but went on to finish the race. Check out the video:

We're excited to support Abbey and her team while they train in Flagstaff!

Abbey D'Agostino (Italian) is training in Flagstaff now???

…with non-pudgy, non-pathetic and non-out-of-shape NEW BALANCE runners who have ALL agreed to join the anti-Nike Stupid Sub-2:00 Marathon Project Boycott™.

WTF!!!

I am really, really, really mad now.

I have also received a Flagstaff Updateâ„¢ email from rjm33.

Here is the email message:

…………...I feel like I am going to pass out again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…………..

Is that The Donald? You're overrated.

One week to go !

KB talking the talk, going after WR, 13 hours to go !

KB talking the talk, going after WR, 13 hours to go !

Shame the weather isn't going to cooperate.

We have, this year, a weather that seems not ideal for a fast marathon.

Tomorrow we wait temperature between 18 and 26 Celsius, and this fact doesn't help Kenenisa to look at the record.

However, the idea is to go at HM around 61 minutes, a little bit faster than the splits in London and Berlin last year.

The course is a little bit different from the past, since there are now two small overpasses (about 200m long) at 20 and 21 km. This can provoke some problem to the most part of athletes, but I don't think to Kenenisa, who is able to increase his frequency during the uphill part, reaching a high speed which can maintain in the downhill part, relaxing and saving energies using the inertial force due to the gravity.

The pacers are planned for going till 30 km (maybe only one of them). Personally, I don't think this is possible in these conditions, and I fear Kenenisa can be alone soon after 25 km.

However, in his career Kenenisa always showed the ability to run alone against time every time he attacked some WR. Of course, to run alone for the second 5 km in 10000m (about 13') or the last 2 km in his World Record of 5000 (about 5') is not the same to remain alone for the last 40' attempting a marathon record. But Kenenisa.... is Kenenisa, and we are confident tomorrow can be a good day, also with these limiting factors (which were not the same in the last 5 editions.).

Let's go Bekele!

Wrong thread, miss.

Thank you for the insight !

…inertial force due to the gravity…

That sounds like fancy science stuff... that does not apply to Kenyans or Ethiopians born, living, and doing special high volume-high intensity training with special blocks at high altitude.