The Berlin Marathon 2019 took place this past Sunday. Kenenisa Bekele (37) of Ethiopia, who is the world record holder for both men's 5000M and 10000M, destroyed the field by the second fastest time in history, falling short only by the tiniest margin of two seconds of Eliud Kipchoge's world best time of 2:01:39 recorded also in Berlin a year earlier. His fellow country man, Birhanu Legese, who had won the Tokyo Marathon this past February, finished 2nd by running a blistering sub-2:03 marathon. Our country man, Kenta Murayama of Asahi Kasei, renewed his PR by 54 seconds as he finished 9th at 2:08:56. Congratulations to all the finishers, and those who achieved their goals.
Two days after the race I sat and watched the full race on You Tube with English commentary. I ignored much of the first half to start watching it from the 16 K mark on or thereabout.
The race was led by three Ethiopians and one Kenyan after the 26 K mark, of which the Kenyan was the first to drop. The last of all the pacer had already gone by this time, and the leaders were all Ethiopians: men's 5000M&10000M world records holder Kenenisa Bekele, this year's Tokyo Marathon champion Birhanu Legese, and Sisay Lemma, who ran two sub 2:05 marathons in 2018. He began his running career at the age of 17 and initially competed barefoot due to a lack of shoes. He sounds like my type of man.
Of the three, to my surprise, Kenenisa was the first to struggle when Birhanu Legese suddenly injected pace at 30 K. Sisay hung on, but the legendary two records holder was left behind.
The lap between 30 and 31 K mark was a staggering 2:48. Even great Kenenisa found is a bit too much to hang on to.
Just before the 35 K mark, there was yet another injection of pace, again by Birhanu, and to this the last remaining fellow country man, Sisay, could not respond.
With 7 K remaining, the race appeared to have been decided. But while Birhanu continued on, a drama was unfolding behind him. Kenanisa, who was once unable to respond to Birhanu's first attack at 30 K, was now back, overtaking Sisay and halving the gap between him and Birhanu in a matter of a couple of minutes. And, alas, not only did he catch up to Birhanu, he overtook him and pressed on without hanging around!!
The fortitude he demonstrated both physical and mental was on another level. His lap between 37 and 38 mark was a mind-boggling 2:52. That's Eliud Kipchoge's interval training pace!
Kenenisa motored on, checking his watch every now and then, obviously aware of his chance of getting very close to the world record.
In the last 4 kilometers or so, he was absolutely in his track mode, with more activity seen in his arms, and his running for somewhat more bouncy. If Eliud Kipchoge had been watching the race live on TV, he must have been a really worried man!
When he crossed the 39 K mark, he was only 9 seconds behind the world record. In the next kilometer, he slowed down slightly, with the gap to the world record widening to 11 seconds. But then again he increased the pace yet again between 40 and 41 K, and when he crossed the 41 K, he was only 5 seconds away from the time Eliud Kipchoge had marked a year earlier.
Kenenisa pressed on, surrounded by roaring cheers by the spectators from both sides of the last stretch that led from that iconic Brandenburg Gate to the finish line. For a moment I thought that super-human record by Eliud Kipchoge from the previous year might be broken by the king of track. Then when the official clock said 2:01:40 as he crossed the finish, he became the second-fastest, not THE fastest, marathoner of all time. The official time was 2:01:41, two seconds away from the world best, but nonetheless very, very, incredible time, and certainly the race was one of the most memorable of all races so far in 2019.
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