Good Morning, Stumpers!

The word dominant is sometimes overused in sports. What does it really mean to be head and shoulders above your peers. In Eliud Kipchoge’s prime, racing against people was not enough; Kipchoge said he would race against the clock! This past weekend, he ran another NYC Marathon, and afterwards, he announced his next chapter! Today, we highlight Eliud Kipchoge, The Man Who Broke The Unbreakable!

Stump Story / Glue Of The Day

💨 Eliud Kipchoge - The Man Who Broke the Unbreakable

The name Eliud Kipchoge is to marathon running what Michael Jordan is to basketball. It’s what Michael Phelps is to swimming. It’s what pancakes are to breakfast. After running in the NYC Marathon this past weekend, one that he dominated in his prime, Kipchoge has announced his next adventure!

In his competitive running career, Eliud Kipchoge has 2 Olympic Gold Medals (2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo), 11 World Marathon victories, the record for fastest marathon under competitive conditions (2:01:09 in Berlin 2022), and a collection of athlete of the year awards as well.

Throughout his career, he has run because of the competitive nature of the sport, and he has run to prove himself. In his prime, he was so far away from the rest of the field that he needed to create a new challenge to beat.

Instead of racing others, he began to race the clock. A sub-2-hour marathon was something that had never been accomplished before. To break 2 hours, your mile pace would have to be 4 minutes and 34 seconds, and you’d have to run that pace for the entire 26.2 miles of the race.

4 minutes and 34 seconds almost seems like a joke! 2 hours was an unbreakable time. 4:34 was an unbreakable pace. It was just an unbreakable record.

In 2019, in Vienna, Eliud Kipchoge broke the unbreakable.

With a final time of 1:59:40, Kipchoge was the first to ever run a sub-2-hour marathon. This was not a competitive event, and it was set up for the sole purpose of Kipchoge trying to accomplish the feat, so it is not recognized as the official fastest competitive marathon record, but it is impressive nonetheless.

Today, he turns 41, and he has teased the running community about an announcement he would make after the conclusion of this past weekend’s marathon. After he finished in 17th with a time of 2:14:36, he took to the stage and said he was done racing for himself. He said it was time for his next chapter.

Maybe you would think that this would mean becoming a coach, or riding off into the sunset with a book, maybe…WRONG!

ALL THIS GUY MEANS IS MORE RUNNING!

He announced that he plans to run 7 marathons on 7 continents over the next two years (yes, this includes Antarctica). It will be labeled “Eliud Kipchoge’s World Tour”. He will do this with the purpose of raising funds for the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation, which supports educational and environmental issues in countries that need more help. He wants to tell the world that there is no limit to what anybody can accomplish, and that everybody has it in them to accomplish something even as daunting as a marathon, with the proper discipline, anything is possible.

What a runner, what a story, what a goal!

Eliud Kipchoge.

The man who broke the unbreakable!

Of! The! Day’s!

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