Wilson Kipsang's dominating move around halfway in the recent London marathon got me thinking. His split was 4:30 for that mile and it was enough to tear open the entire field. The only other surge I can remember that might be comparable is Samuel Wanjiru's 4:25 19th mile at the same venue back in 2009.
Has there ever been a faster mile in the middle of a competitive marathon, or even any marathon at all? That's 66 second 400 pace for crying out loud. Some of the slower women's mile races on the circuit come in at this time. It is really astonishing to consider how far marathoning has come.