#ELIUD KIPCHOGE

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.

Eliud Kipchoge

[allthefoolmine]

The 2024 Men's Olympic Marathon Was Epic

Excuse me for some screaming about the 2024 Paris Olympic Men's Marathon, okay?

Cool. Under the cut 'cause this is gonna get long and enthusiastic.

So, first of all, Kenenisa Bekele, the man the myth the legend, was back at the Olympics. After twelve years. After he very nearly won the 2024 London Marathon. I was there and seated for this.

For second, I immediately developed a massive mancrush on Yaseen Abdallah. He's 22. He represents Sudan. He just graduated from college. He--get this--had never run a marathon before. (He was in the race on one of the Olympic universality places.) And said about running, "I hate hills".

let's all take a moment to remind ourselves of the brutally hilly Paris Olympic marathon course, yes? Yes.

And finally, Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od was running his sixth Olympic marathon, which is makes my brain bleed to even think about.

I was too cheap to pay for a livestream, plus, from everything I've read, live television coverage of championship marathons is usually pretty shit. (Especially if there are men's and women's races happening at the same time. But feminist outrage about how fukkin' horrible TV coverage of women's long distance racing is, is not the point of this post.) I was following the race via the Olympic webpage, which gives 5k splits, and various major newspapers live updates. I should also say that I'm a pretty new fan of the sport and not at all a competitive runner myself, so, take all of this for what it's worth.

That marathon was ridiculous. Reasons include:

Eyob Faniel (Italy): made what seemed like a serious effort to take charge in the first half of the race. Boy did he pay for it later. But how exciting to see someone go for it.

By the end of the first half, it looked like Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) had been like, "I'll take it from here" and seeing him win, in an Olympic record, on THAT COURSE, in those weather and humidity conditions, was frankly fucking bonkers. Like, run do not walk to watch the Eurosports coverage of the last ten minutes of the race, because the beauty and economy of that man's stride belongs in a museum.

The performance of Akira Akasaki (Japan). Bro is 26, this was his first Olympics and world championship race. He stayed in fifth place almost the entire freaking race, even with the Faniel-led craziness in the first half, and only ended up sixth when he got passed at the very end. You can see his finish in the clip above, and I implore you to watch it. Dude looks so flipping' happy, and from what I could see on the live tracker, you could set a metronome or an atomic clock by his pacing. And you can see from the video of the last ten minutes--he's running alone! There's no one with him! Again, as far as I can tell this was his first race at this level of competition. Absolute insanity. I can't wait to see what he does in the future.

Bashir Abdi got silver! After his bronze in Tokyo! What a legend. Also, Benson Kipruto was third. Both, from the live tracker, seem to have run incredible, smart races, especially in the second half.

Emil Cairess, (a Yorkshireman! Whoo!) who went from 9th at the half, to 2nd at 30k, to 6th at 35k and 40k, and finished fourth. I bet his race was epic to witness live. (And his finish is hilarious, dude looks like he left it allllll on the ice. Love to see it.)

Seeing somebody set a National Record is always exciting; seeing someone do it in heat, humidity, and hills, and come seventh in the Olympic marathon, is even cooler. Give Tebello Ramakongoana (Lesotho) all the flowers.

In the battle of Connor Mantz (USA) vs the Hurt Locker (dude looks like he went with Faniel and paid for it), the judges award Mantz the victory. He hung on for eighth.

Yaseen Abdallah, hater of hills, finished his first marathon, in 2:11 for 33rd place, setting a new national record for Sudan. My head exploded. If he ever decides to run another marathon, dude has a bright future.

Kenenisa Bekele had a rough day at the office but he finished! I was hoping to see him medal, because I'm a huge fan of his, but seeing him grind to finish 39th is inspiring. Massive respect to him. Eliud Kipchoge sadly DNF'd, and I hope he is okay.

And in last place, Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od, finished his sixth Olympic marathon, which he was determined to do after dropping out in Tokyo. Ridiculous.

And that was the men's Olympic marathon. Bonkers from beginning to end. Cannot wait to follow the women's race tomorrow!

Last ten minutes of the race:

[afrotumble]

[godwantsit]

[squaringthacircle]

[hashirun]

Eliud Kipchoge, wow. Fifth consecutive Berlin Marathon title. I have no words 🐐🐐🐐

Image from World Athletics

[goodnessgraciousgal]

“Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.”

Eliud Kipchoge

[brattdiet]

[afrotumble]

[pony-boy21]

[godwantsit]

[squaringthacircle]

[runiround]

全速前進再進化 專為菁英跑者打造的頂級鞋款

2019年9月，馬拉松競賽運動迎來值得寫入歷史的巨變 —— Nike運動員Eliud Kipchoge打破紀錄，成為史上首位跑進2小時的馬拉松運動員，讓全世界為之振奮，也證明了人的潛能是無限的。一雙革命性的創新跑鞋：Nike Alphafly NEXT%原型，幫助他跑入史冊，改變了馬拉松運動，一款全新的鞋履也就此誕生。

◎ 加入慢跑俱樂部粉絲專頁，設定「最愛」掌握最新運動訓練知識

由Air Zoom氣墊、ZoomX泡棉和Flyplate碳纖維板構成的系統，一直是Nike的最大優勢，這正是Nike Alphafly鞋款的驅動力所在。全新Nike Alphafly 3跑鞋以馬拉松級別的非凡速度超越你的想像，代表 Nike在為跑者不懈創新的征途上掀開了嶄新篇章。這是 Nike有史以來最輕盈、內部測試紀錄上檢測次數最多的跑鞋，經過菁英馬拉松運動員的測試驗證後證實，鞋款能有效提升運動員在賽事的運動表現、並達成其設計初衷—幫助跑者取得更佳的成績。

自誕生以來，Nike Air一直是Nike創新文化的代名詞。Nike Alphafly 3的早期版本於2023年春季在官方國際田聯開發期間首次亮相，由一些世界頂級馬拉松運動員提前實際穿著測試。Eliud Kipchoge在柏林第五次奪冠。Sifan Hissan在倫敦贏得了她的首場馬拉松比賽，並以歷史第二快的成績在芝加哥奪冠。同樣在芝加哥，Kelvin Kiptum以2小時00分35秒的成績創造了新的男子馬拉松世界紀錄。

Nike Alphafly 3 首款配色是品牌指標性的“Prototype”配色，向 Nike與運動員進行測試的開發過程致敬。全白色的輪廓上點綴著突出前掌的雙重Air Zoom氣墊，中底外側印有運動員穿著測試的編號 (男款為20820-4，女款為21200-23)，鞋領內側的“V62”代表鞋面設計的反覆運算次數。

更出色的跑步體驗設計 Nike Alphafly 3承襲馬拉松運動員所青睞的ZoomX泡棉的中底，保證長途奔跑過程中持續輕盈的緩震效果。並首次透過一體成形鞋底連接後跟和前足，為各種不同的觸地方式與不同的配速提供同樣順暢穩定的跑步體驗。同時以全新輕盈Fast Shot外底保證出色牽引力和抓地力。

能量回饋和推進力 前足的雙重 Nike Air Zoom氣墊有效吸收道路衝擊，達成靈敏反應的緩震效果，並將能量回饋給跑者，為他們的下一步做好準備。搭配更寬的全長Flyplate碳纖維板提供穩定推進力。

舒適並容易掌控 透過 Nike跑鞋史上最大範圍的女子測試而獲得的回饋，最終為馬拉松運動員提升了Nike Alphafly的舒適度。全新鞋楦用於提升足弓舒適度和減少全掌摩擦。新款鞋墊為低足弓設計提供有力支撐。全新Atomknit 3.0鞋面憑藉輕盈透氣的設計提供更強的控制力、透氣性和中足支撐力。Lofted Flyknit後跟襯墊為足跟和跟腱部位提供緩衝。經過重新設計的鞋帶系統融合了Flyknit鞋面的鞋眼設計，讓腳背負荷減輕，觸感柔軟。

Nike鞋類團隊開始著手改善Nike Alphafly鞋款的動力，既滿足菁英馬拉松運動員的需求，又照顧到普通跑者，同時保留跑者對於此鞋款最青睞的設計。他們的重點是：最大程度提升穩定性、舒適度和推進力，幫助跑者輕鬆跑完42.195公里。

[mossandfog]

Nike's Record-Breaking Marathon Shoe Now Available to the Public

Utilizing state-of-the-art engineering, materials, and design, Nike was able to create shoes that helped athletes break marathon records for the last several years.  These highly studied, refined, and built running shoes are years in the making, and until now, the latest version was only available to a select group of elite athletes. Now, any of us can pretend to run like Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge…