Flash2k11 wrote:
To go even that fast is obscene. My last half marathon (around Silverstone, coincidentally) was a minute slower than that (albeit carrying more than a slight injury and the lack of training that said injury forced upon me). To go twice as fast truly boggles the mind, to get within half a minute of the holy grail after 2 hours of slogging yer nuts off must be horrible. I'm always truly amazed at just how fast these elites can run these things though, a year or so ago I was probably in the best shape of my adult life, eating all the right food and doing all the right training, yet i'm still echelons away from what these guys turn up and blast out.
Did a 10k last November that involved 2 laps of the same course, and got to watch the eventual winner about halfway round his 2nd lap as I was getting ready to finish my first, and was in awe to be honest. I ran it in 45:35 that day, not slow by any standard.... that chap did it in 31 minutes or so. Mental.
I ran a small marathon in March where there was an Ethiopian elite competing as a favor to the race director. The course has 3 short out and sections in the first half and 1 long out and for the last half.
As I started the third out and back at about 8.5 miles the elite was finishing it which is just short of the 12 mile mark. When I saw him coming back from the long out and back I was at mile 16 which meant he was just short of mile 23. I'm no top notch age group runner but I ran 3:46:43 and he beat me by over an hour while nursing an injury.