Originally posted by mikelom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Yk1xeSLRk
This man is running at that pace for over 26 miles.
Look at the cyclists in the background!
It's a 26 mile sprint.
800m runners at world record level run at under 18 miles per hour!
13 miles per hour for 26 miles??
Astounding!
Hats off to top marathon runners.
-m.
I've supported friends at marathons, and would always make sure to be at the first mile marker to watch the Elite Group go by. I marveled at their speed, and their ability.
Best I could ever do was about 5:10 for three, maybe four miles. My best PFT was 15:35 over three miles. When I was into distance running, I would usually try and work the kinks out with a 7:30 first mile, and then cruise for the next eight or nine at about 6:15 - 6:30, depending on the terrain.
The summer I got out, I lived at the Jersey shore. The six months before I got out of the Marine Corps and the four, five months after I got out was the fittest year of my life. I ran in the morning, lifted weights at lunch, and ran again or swam at the end of the day. After spending two weeks getting annihilated at bars every night, I picked up where I left off, and started running on the beach, five miles twice a day, pushups, pullups, situps. I was dating a girl, and the day of the the Ten-Mile Island Run in Sea Isle City, NJ - about two hours before the race - she told me she thought I should run it. Being very much in lust, very much wanting to impress her, and still made of rubber, I registered and ran it in 1:07:22, and I left alot in the tank that day. I think I could have done it in 62 minutes, but I remembered what my Drill Instructor said about me (in the presence of the entire company) immediately before we started our final PFT: "[Sasquatch] is like an orgasm. He goes out fast and rolls over and goes to sleep."
I used to love distance running. It just felt like my time, it belonged only to me. My only concern was matching my footfalls to my cadence. But to do what these guys do, as fast as they do it for as long as they do it, is absolutely incredible.