Some Dude Broke The Marathon World Record And It Might Be The Most Impressive Thing I've Ever Heard

(Smithsonian) — Wilson Kipsang just set the marathon world record, clocking in at 2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds. For context, that’s 26.2 miles at an average speed of 4 minutes, 42 seconds per mile. The Kenyan beat his countryman Patrick Makau’s previous record by 15 seconds in the race held in Berlin set just a month earlier in the same place. In fact, the Berlin course seems to be the place to break the record: this is the eighth world record broken in the city in the last 15 years.

Curiosity got the best of me reading this and I decided to see just how fast this dude ran. So I fired up the treadmill pace converter to check out what level a 4:42 mile is. Turns out it’s off the charts fast. Literally off the charts. Treadmills don’t go that fast. So I don’t know how anyone can say that running at that speed for over 2 hours straight isn’t the most impressive thing they’ve ever heard. I asked everyone how long they think they can run on a treadmill at fullspeed for and here are the results…

Pres – 10 seconds

KFC – Zero seconds. He doesn’t think his legs can physically move that fast. I don’t think he’s wrong.

Kmarko – 45 seconds. Probably pretty accurate. Kmarko is the only blogger who works out daily, so he’s probably the most realistic in his time choosing and our best bet at beating the marathon record.

JMac – 30 seconds. He’s done a bunch of Marathon Mondays, how is this so different?

M0 – 2 minutes. I have no idea where Mo came up with this but I’m very excited to see it in action. Mo is so tall that he kind of strikes me as like a baby giraffe still figuring out his legs. If he can last 2 min on a full-tilt treadmill with those stilts flying around, it might be more impressive than the marathon time.

Big Cat – 45 seconds. Crossfit is practical life exercises. What about sprinting on a treadmill at fullspeed isn’t practical? BC has been training his whole life for this.

Smitty – KFC route. Hasn’t stepped on a treadmill and would fly right off after one and a half steps.

Me – 45 seconds. Many, many moons ago, when I was actually in shape, I used to do this a fair amount. I think if I put my mind to it I can handle a one time 45 second clip.

Now all that’s left is for everyone to film it…