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Running Smart Is More Important Than Running Hard

It’s better to trust our instincts than trusting the noise from the outside

Ryan Fan
6 min readSep 27, 2021
Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash

The 2021 Berlin Marathon met significant hype, with the greatest distance runner of all time, Kenenisa Bekele, making headlines for making an attempt at Eliud Kipchoge’s illustrious marathon world record (2:01:39).

But the race would, on face value, be a disappointment. The men’s winner, Guye Adola, ran 2:05:45, which is over four miles slower than the marathon world record. Kenenisa Bekele finished in third place in 2:06:47.

But the face value of the race does not have context. According to Cathal Deny at Runner’s World, the conditions were not good for a world record attempt. The race went from 16°C (60°F) to 21°C (69°F), which is very hot for a world record attempt.

Any runner can tell you anywhere from 45°F to 50°F is perfect running weather for running the fastest they can. It’s not like you can’t run faster in hotter or colder conditions, but it’s difficult, especially in the heat as running 26.2 miles heats up the body quite a lot.

The race pacers did not take the race out being cognizant of the conditions: they went out in the first half in 60:48, which is the fastest opening half of a marathon ever. This was 18 seconds faster…

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Ryan Fan
Ryan Fan

Written by Ryan Fan

Believer, Baltimore City IEP Chair, and 2:35 marathon runner. Diehard fan of “The Wire.”

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