Why do we do this?
I have been in a running funk lately…you know those periods when you just don’t want to run, despite knowing it is exactly the thing that will make you feel better? Well, that’s where I was at for the last 6 months or so. But I’m gearing up for a new challenge and so I needed to shake this feeling and FAST. What better way than to binge watch all my favorite running documentaries?! I started with Breaking2 - which I know is old news since we’ve seen not one, but TWO athletes break the 2-hour marathon barrier since this one debuted in 2017 - but it’s still a favorite.
DISCLAIMER: If you haven’t watched Breaking2 already, STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING AND GO WATCH IT NOW. Seriously, sign up for the free Disney+ trial, watch it, then cancel. Or steal a friend’s log in. It’s THAT GOOD. Also, there are spoilers, so watch it before you read further!
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. The documentary follows a team of world-class scientists who spent 2+ years identifying and studying all the key factors involved in getting a human being to break the 2-hour mark for the marathon distance. Three world-class athletes were given 6 months of training and physiological monitoring to attempt to break this barrier. Note that at the time, breaking 2 hours would mean shaving a whopping 3 minutes off the World Record time, set by Dennis Kimetto at the 2014 Berlin Marathon, and require the runners to hold a blistering 4:34.5 per mile pace for 26.2 miles.
The three athletes chosen, Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese, and Lelisa Desisa are all insane athletes. I think most of us runners are familiar with Kipchoge - and if you’re not, you’re either a new marathoner or have been living in Antarctica for years. Kipchoge was the defending Olympic champ at the marathon distance, (2016, Rio, 2:08:44). At the time, Zersenay was the half marathon WR holder (58:23, set in 2010), with the second fastest half-marathon time, and a marathon PR of 2:10:41 coming into the event.* He is also the oldest of the competitors, being born in 1982.
Desisa exploded onto the marathon scene at a much younger age than usual, just 21 years old, in 2010. He went on to win the ill-fated 2013 Boston Marathon, returning his medal to the city in honor of the victims of the bombing, coming back to win the event again in 2015. While Desisa had the advantage of youth, he lacked a bit in experience. So these guys are literally, the BEST in the world at what they do to start with.
Anyone who has watched elites run can tell the difference. Their strides are effortless; they land with their feet squarely under their bodies and launch themselves forward like gazelles. Their arms pump straight forward at their waist, making the most of the forward momentum. There is not one drop of energy wasted on motion that does not serve the athlete’s ultimate purpose: to run. Honestly, watching these three running made me a little teary. As an aspiring runner, this was truly poetry in motion. And personally, the science behind a human’s physical abilities is equally fascinating. How many of us watch our VO2 max numbers fluctuate with our training, hoping to see just a single point uptick? The three athletes featured: Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese, and Lelisa Desisa all have incredible VO2 max numbers. The Nike scientists also measured lactate thresholds, energy efficiency (how well the athletes manage their energy), hydration and nutrition. All three were literally off the charts in every category. On race day, all three atheletes sported the Nike “Vapor Fly Elite". The race was held at the Monza automobile racetrack, chosen for a combination of its low altitude, calm weather conditions, and short lap length. In addition to a pacemaker vehicle, runners acting as pacemakers were positioned to shield the key athletes in an attempt to reduce wind resistance. Yeah, these guys had it all going in their favor. The goal was to eliminate, or reduce as much as possible, external factors to race performance (altitude, temperature, wind, elevation, etc) so that it was truly a matter of human capabilities.
We have three athletes with near-perfect physiological condition, similar training plans and timelines, and impeccable form (arguably Kipchoge’s form is perfect, but that’s a different discussion). All had the benefit of the latest in shoe tech, race day conditions, pacing and hydration. Yet only one was able to come remotely close to hitting the coveted sub-2. Why? Or more broadly, what is it that separates the true greats across the running spectrum from the myriad pool of elites?
One Nike scientist I think hit it on the head: they can quantify and measure and control every aspect of the athlete’s physical condition and they can (nearly) control the environment. But there is no way for them to quantify an athlete’s spirit. There is no meter to indicate the amount of heart an athlete has. There isn’t a scale to determine the mental toughness of a runner. And there isn’t an equation to determine a person’s compassion. There, my friends, is an interesting point, and the one I want to discuss with y’all.
Let’s take a little trip through history. Have y’all heard of Emil Zatopek? He was a Czech soldier with HORRENDOUS running form, but a guy who just loved running. He was known for taking off with a flashlight during army bootcamp for 20-mile night runs. In the woods. After a full day of infantry drills. In his combat boots. In winter. Are you getting the vibe here? This dude used to work on explosiveness by playing catch with a javelin with his wife. The day my man hurls a jav at me we’re having issues. Note also that at the time the Czechs had zero coaching, tradition, native talent or any chance at winning anything. Zatopek became known as the Chatty Cathy of the running world, sidling up to competitors to practice whatever language he thought was correct, talking away like they weren’t in the middle of a long-distance race. When he showed up to the 1952 Olympics, the Czech team was so scant, that he was able to sign up to run all the distances. The guy set new Olympic records for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters….and the marathon. In the same year. The man just loved to run. After Russia invaded in 1968, they gave Zatopek the choice of getting on the bandwagon as a red sports ambassador or cleaning uranium mine toilets. He took the toilets. When Australian Rob Clarke choked on his best attempt at 10,000 Olympic gold in ‘68, he swung by Prague to visit Emil in his dismal digs. Zatopek slipped something in Clarke’s suitcase, and Clarke, thinking it a message to the outside world, said nothing of the package until he was well away from the country. Only later did Clarke find Zatopek’s 1952 Olympic 10,000m gold metal in his suitcase. Talk about compassion, and love, and camaraderie! Here’s an unimaginable talent wasting away in a Prague cell, visited by the guy who will go on to break all his records, and he’s giving the newbie his gold medal.
Enter Joe Vigil - an acclaimed distance coach and one known for taking novel approaches to coaching. Somewhere around 4am in Leadville in 1994, watching the Tarahumara race against Ann Trason in an all-out sprint of the 100 mile course, Joe saw that magic again. The thing that Vigil noticed, was that the Tarahumara - a very secluded Mexican tribe known for their exceptional distance running - were all laughing. “Glee and determination are usually antagonistic emotions, yet the Tarahumara were brimming with both at once, as if running to the death made them feel more alive.” There it was again. These people genuinely loved running, and they loved running together. Just like Zatopek. He loved running, and he loved his people.
Look at many traditional tribes across Mexico and Africa. We’d now call them persistence hunters. How is it that entire tribes of people can all run like gazelles for miles and miles yet some other runners can’t seem to get past a 5k? Genetics is the usual answer, and yes, that is part of the story. But perhaps there is another reason. These tribes all live, eat, sleep, rear children, and hunt as a family. They each do their part for the good of the tribe and the love of their people. They are running to make sure that their loved ones are able to eat. They are running to celebrate the life of their prey, and the gift that the earth provides. They are running for LOVE.
This brings us to Eliud. He’s a native Kenyan, and spends his time at a high-elevation training camp there with many other aspiring and talented athletes. This isn’t a Nike state-of-the-art facility. It’s more like a small farming village with modest barracks and communal chores. Every runner has a rotation of chores, from cleaning the communal bathrooms to helping with dishes. Everyone. Including Kipchoge. In Breaking2, he says, “100% of me is nothing compared to 1% of the team.” Seriously? 100% of arguably the BEST runner of all time is nothing? But that is his biggest asset. His attitude toward others, and the ideal that everyone is equal. You can see it in the way he interacts with not only his training partners, but even his competitors. Eliud finished in 2:00:25, and by all rights could have gone somewhere to rest and recover. But he didn’t. He waited there for his fellow racers to cross the line, greeting and congratulating them both with hugs, high fives and smiles. He’s not in it for the fame. He’s in it for the love of the sport and the community. With that, and his undeniable physical talent, the man is unstoppable.
So I will leave you all with these thoughts from Born to Run:
The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other, but to be with each other.
The joy of running is the joy we get from adding our power to the pack. Runners try to dissociate from fatigue with ipods or imagining crowds cheering them on, but there is a simpler method, evidenced by Emil and Eliud: it is easy to get outside yourself when you’re thinking about someone else.
There is a link between compassion and competition. And I can see that every time I head out for a run in the people I meet on the road and trail. We may not be breaking any World Records or even personal ones. But we are each strengthened by the other, we are strengthening our communities, and we are adding our power to the pack.
*The attempt in the documentary was made in May 2017. Stats for the runners mentioned in the article are the relevant statistics at the time of the event. Sabastian Sawa now holds the marathon world record, set in April 2026 at the London Marathon in a time of 1:59:30. Ruth Chepng’etich holds the women’s mark at 2:09:56.
Watch Sawa’s race here.
To read more about Emil check out Today We Die a Little! The Inimitable Emil Zatopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time by Richard Askwith or "Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zatopek by Rick Broadbent.