105 participants started the 2012 Summer Olympic Marathon. It’s impressive to see how fast these runners move and yet, not look like they’re running sub 5-minute miles in the early stages. The camera angles seem to absorb the relative speeds, but the overhead shots tend to demonstrate the real speeds these guys are moving at.
Think of this… a 5-minute pace (1 mile in 5 minutes) is roughly running at 12 mph.
The 8-mile marathon loop route was a beautiful route passing many British landmarks of London. But as any runner might understand, there were a lot of harsh (90 degree) left and right turns. Those kinds of turns at speed is tough on muscles that train to go straight!
Around mile 5 we had a single runner break away, but by mile 20 or so, with the field spread out, the break away runner had 2 companions.
The crowd was awesome, as the coverage said, it was deafening. There were many hydration spots and sponge hand-out stations.
The final miles had three runners leading the pack by so much that even if one of them fell, they could get up and still have a big enough lead.
The winners had an amazing last leg.
Kiprotich had let a few runners catch him, but it seems he was taking a break. With a couple miles to go, he took off on his competitors. (NBC blew it and we never saw the pass)
Steve Kiprotich (Uganda) just pulled away, showing a 4:42 mile at mile 24. His finished in 2:08:01.
Abel Kirui followed second in 2:08:27 and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich finished in 2:09:37
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Here in my family, we tend to run. But some of us ran into IT Band (Iliotibial Band) issues of late and have been battling it ever since. Doctors have sent my wife to physical therapy and she’s been battling what felt like an uphill battle for a months.
