Still Running (weakly). Issue 17

PAST – inspiration – I ran the Berlin Marathon on the last day of September in 1984, well before the famous wall, which divided that city, came down. In the middle of a purple patch of racing, I managed to take three minutes off my personal best, bringing it down from 2:55:35 to 2:52:32. It was a lovely feeling, knowing from a long way out that a PB was on the cards. (It was an even lovelier feeling, wandering through the finish chute, in a cloud of fatigue and satisfaction, looking at the tables piled high with bananas, energy bars and water bottles.)

That autumn, I had come second in the London to Brighton Walk on 1st September and 5th in the Quadrathon on the 8th, the latter consisting of a 2-mile swim, 50km walk, 100-mile cycle and marathon run. I then did a PB in the London to Brighton Run 7 days after Berlin, a slower half marathon a week later (slacker!), my first sub-hour 10 miles a week after that, and then I took another minute off my marathon PB at Bedford a week after THAT!

That is the what, the where and the when, but the real questions are how? And why?

PRESENT – perspiration – This year’s Berlin Marathon was of course all about Ethiopian Tigist Assefa’s stunning new women’s world record, her 2:11:53 eclipsing Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 from Chicago 2019. The men’s world record did not get faster than that until 1967!

It is only fair to say that doubts have been raised about this performance, since Assefa was originally an 800 metres runner, only debuting at 26.2 miles in 2022, running 2:34:01 in Riyadh in March and then improving dramatically to 2:15:37 in Berlin in September.

If that run, making her the third fastest female marathon runner in history, raised eyebrows, her run in the German capital this year is off the controversy scale.

Let us hope that in coming years, Assefa can prove herself as consistent, reliable and trustworthy a marathoner as Eliud Kipchoge who, let us say, went about the business of winning his fifth Berlin Marathon quietly this year! The marathon is a notoriously unpredictable event, and yet Kipchoge has run 21 of these tests, failing to win just 3 times. He has won Berlin 5 times, as I say, London 4 times, Tokyo, Chicago, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Enschede once each (plus two time trials of 2:00:25 and 1:59:40), as well as the small matter of two Olympic golds!

FUTURE – suggestion – The long runs that you are no doubt undertaking in preparation for your autumn marathon, in general terms, can be of two types. Firstly, there is the traditional road run, undertaken at a pace a minute or so a mile slower than your target, and covering, as the weeks go by, 16, 18, 20, even 22 miles. The secret is to try not to let the pace slow towards the end – to finish strongly for that physical and mental boost.