SUB 2:
FROM IMPOSSIBILITY TO INEVITABILITY
Â
IN THE FIRST OF SEVERAL PIECES, RUN THROUGH COACHES SAM
GOODCHILD AND MATT LONG EXPLORE WHAT THE SUB 2 HOUR
PERORMANCE OF SABASTIAN SAWE MEAN FOR YOU.
So where were you when it happened? What were you doing when late morning on Sunday 26th April 2026, the BBC commentator Steve Cram was screaming into his microphone, âHeâs got just under a minute to do this. Come on Sabastian. You can get thisâ? Likely you were one of millions watching on tv. Perhaps you made the trip to London to support a relative and were one of the thousands lining the route as a
crimson Adidas vest sped past? Maybe you missed it and are now kicking yourself as you couldnât shake off the guilt of needing to get out there for your own long run!? A privileged minority of you will always be able to say, âI ran in the same race that history was madeâ.Â
 A âhyper-realâ barrier
The great French philosopher Jean Baudrillard famously characterised our world as being âhyper-realâ- where the real and artificial combine until we cannot tell the difference. In our context, for decades, the idea of a sub-2-hour marathon sat on the tantalising edge of human possibility. Close enough to imagine, yet distant enough to feel untouchable. âIt wonât happen in my lifetime,â being the common response of club runners up and down the country.
White coated scientists working in labs across the globe analysed it, debated it, and tried to define its limits. Early models, including those from exercise physiologists, suggested that while it might theoretically be possible, it would require near-perfect conditionsâoptimal weather, flawless pacing, and an athlete operating at the absolute ceiling of human endurance.
Unless you are an athletic ostrich with your head buried in the sand, you wonât need reminding that the great Eliud Kipchoge famously broke the barrier some seven years ago with a time of 1:59:40. The performance was part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. This was a meticulously engineered science project, featuring rotating
pacemakers, optimal environmental conditions, and cutting-edge shoe technology that would go on to reshape distance running.
Despite this iconic moment, some projections pushed the timeline decades into the future, with suggestions that a ârealâ rather an artificially manufactured sub-2-hour marathon in an official race setting
might not happen until the year 2075.
Living by Numbers
You donât need a masters degree in sports science to know that great Kenyan wasnât just fast, for what Sawe did was much more than putting one foot in front of the other at breakneck speed, rather he walked a physiological tightrope. To put it into perspective, running a marathon in under two hours means holding an average pace of 2:50 per kilometre (or in âold moneyâ thatâs 4:34 per mile) for 42.2 kilometres or 26 miles and 385 yards. He averaged 16.8 seconds per 100 metres and then repeating it over 420 times in a row without deviation to clock 1:59.30.
You may recall an increasingly animated commentator Cram salivating over how a knee trembling 13:54 split between 30km to 35km had both Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha closing in an a potential word record. As a finish projection of 1hr59m flashed up on our screens, commentator Cram protested that, âHave people not realised what could happen?â rather like an anxious parent keen to wake up his slumbering child-like audience up so they wouldnât oversleep and miss out on being
able to unwrap the gift of witnessing a great moment in sport.
As the title of this piece suggests, potentiality became inevitability as the 35km to 40km splits flashed up on or tv screens - even faster with a 13:42 split including a 4:12 mile for the 24th mile of the marathon. The two above 5km times would have you as a semi professional athlete. Sawe and Kejelcha ran them back to back after 30km of running.
A global audience held its collective breath as walking the
proverbial tightrope often results in a nasty fall but on this occasion there was no drop-off- no âDevon Lochâ Grand National moment - Sawe the horse would prove to be the thoroughbred who would not slide onto his knees and allow the moment to overtake him. He would continue to gallop with relentless efficiency at a speed most recreational runners couldnât sustain for a single lap of the track, let alone for a mind numbing 7,200 seconds.
On the shoulder of giants
Way back in 1675, Isaac Newton famously said "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". Like the paradigm shifting physicist, Saweâs modest victory celebration was a courteous nod to his forbears- one could imagine the likes of the late Kelvin Kiptum (2:00.35) smiling down on him from the clouds of athletics heaven, whilst double Olympic champion Haile Gebrselasie (2:03:59) would be flashing that famous smile alongside five time world cross country champion Paul Tergat (2:04.55) with both stood either side of him, metaphorically lifting him up on their shoulders as he entered the Mall.
As Sawe, roared on by an ecstatic grand-stand along the Mall, closed in on the finishing line, the commentator Cram reached his own lyrical climax, oozing that, âNobodyâs ever done this. They said it couldnât be done. An historical performance. Iâve never seen anything like thatâ.
At this point we were perhaps reminded of a not dissimilar feat of epic proportions which took place in Oxford some 72 summers ago,
when the immortal Sir Roger Bannister scaled âThe Everestâ of our sport in becoming the first human to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. The fact that Bannisterâs record lasted just over a month- a mere 46 days to be precise- is immaterial. Come on be honest, we bet you forget that didnât you?!
Only track and field âgeeksâ may readily recall the name of the Australian John Landy who broke it, whilst you go ask the
person sat next to you on the proverbial Clapham omnibus who Bannister was, and you would fall off your seat into the aisle if they didnât know.
Like Bannister who retired soon after scaling his Everest, Sawe could in theory never lace up a pair of trainers or press the button on his watch again like Bannister it would not matter one iota. Why? Heâd still be immortal because heâs already transcended the sport and
earned a place in popular culture in the twenty first century.
The very definition of transcendence is to step out of oneâs silo. So lets side step from athletics to boxing at this point. It was the greatest sportsman of the twentieth century, Muhammad Ali, who famously said, âIf my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe itâthen I can achieve it". Whether we are talking boxing or athletics - whether its Ali, Bannister or Sawe - what is common across their transcendency is a daring to dream and to believe where others didnâtâ, couldnâtâ or simply dared not too.
They bought into a dream- a vision of their and our future- at
some point they were all told their dreams were impossible but their will, drive, inner spirit, call it what you will, stoked a burning fire which turned impossibility into inevitability as our title reaffirms.
Has this article inspired you? If YOU have your own vision of a marathon future, your first step to dare to dream is to sign up to our dedicated training night in Loughborough on May 29th
https://www.runthroughcoach.com/track-nights
In the next piece we move on to explore matters of physiology- what training did Sabastian Sawe undertake for his sub 2 record.
