A marathon is the distance between the Four Seasons Hotel in Yorkville and the Ford Assembly Plant in Oakville.
I used to say that when I was the Propagandist-in-Chief for JeansMarines, the women’s marathon training group created by my wife, Jean, to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. JeansMarines ran from 2002 to 2008, and hundreds of women joined each February to cross the finish line nine months later at the Iwo Jima Memorial into the arms of a waiting U.S. Marine. Lots of those women carried on running, and Jean ended up finishing first in her age group in the Boston Marathon seven times before retiring in 2020.
So the news that Sabastian Sawe, a 31-year-old Kenyan, ran the first sub 2-hour marathon in history last week at the London Marathon tugged at not only the world’s 75 million marathoners, but the 400 million more who have run a 5K and 10K. Sawe won in a staggering time of 1:59:30, which is 26.2 consecutive miles at 4 minutes, 33 seconds per mile. Not only that, he ran a negative split, that is to say, he ran faster in the second half of the race than in the first. Not only that, he wasn’t the only one to break the ‘impossible’ barrier. Finishing second was Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia in 1:59:41.
For those of us middle-of-the-packers, whose finish time is often 4 hours plus, it is an honour to even compete in the same event with the best runners in the world, and humbling to know that by the time we are halfway, they are crossing the finish line.
It’s instructive to learn how Sawe did it and how yesterday’s ‘impossible’ can turn into tomorrow’s ‘probable’.
First, there was a sense of inevitability. The record time had been falling for a decade. Ten years ago it was 2:02:57. Five years ago, 2:01:39, and last year 2:00:35. In 2016, Nike created Breaking 2, a controlled unofficial try at the world’s first sub-2-hour marathon. It didn’t work.
But there were all kinds of innovations in training, nutrition and especially footwear.
In 2023 Adidas introduced the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 whose ultra light weight of 97 grams took two to three minutes off runners’ times. (You can buy a pair like the ones Sawe ran in for $4,690.) Said Nick Thompson), CEO of The Atlantic and a world-record distance runner himself: “Companies created new kinds of foam, new kinds of platesâ¦and new ways you build up the back of the shoe to change a person’s stride.”
Sawe’s second advantage was a new gut-bypassing hydrogel that helped him fuel more while by-passing gastro issues. So he could take on bicarbonate sodium (baking soda) which enhances performance by buffering hydrogen ions. Said one commentator: “Not only is Sawe an extraordinary athlete, he’s also one of the best fuellers the marathon has ever seen.”
Sawe’s third unbeatable advantage is family values. He attended weekly services at the Catholic Church in Cheukta. His grandmother instilled discipline and gratitude; his competitive spirit came via a teacher, Julius Kemei. He then entered a spartan training camp in the Rift Valley with 30 other runners where they learned the repeatable routines that are the foundation for any great runner. In the months before London, Sawe was running between 200 and 240 km a week.
After Roger Bannister ran the world’s first sub-4-minute mile, what was once thought impossible began to happen all the time. Today, the world record for the mile run by a man is 3:43:13, and by a woman 4:07:64. Odds are, the psychological breakthrough of the Bannister Effect will hold true in marathons as well, not just in a slew of men running sub-2 hours, but in a woman breaking that 2-hour mark within a decade.
So what records are left to conquer?
Here are three of them: The first Pacific swim, the 9-metre long jump, and the 30-minute breath hold. Last year, Croatian freediver Vito Maričić held his breath underwater for 29 minutes and 3 seconds, which is longer than an episode of The Simpsons. I’m not sure I could hold mine for the 57 seconds Maričić needs to beat those 30 minutes.
What I do know is that last week Sabastian Sawe did the impossible, the way Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay did in 1953 by conquering Everest, and Jim Hines did in 1968 when he ran the first ever 100 metre race in under 10 seconds.
Meanwhileâ¦
1. On Everest, twice as many are climbing. So why are only half as many dying?
Could it be that common sense and safety are infecting climbers? Two Canadians, Kent Moore and Dr. John Semple, helped write a study on deaths on Everest. As they note: “Most climbers who die do so on Summit Day, but mortality rates during descent from the summit decreased from 3.0% to 0.8%.” Also, last summer a Polish climber skied down Everest from its peak â after climbing for 16 hours through The Death Zone.
2. His day in court. A Court documentâ¦from The Browser. “It contains more twists than most thrillers. Two men â Matthew Keirans and William Woods â met in the 1980s working at a hotdog cart. Keirans then executed an extraordinary identity theft. As Woods, he took out loans, got a six-figure job, got married and had a child, who received the victim’s surname. In 2019, the real Woods tried to fight back â and was imprisoned for his trouble.”
3. Bent coppers. Can AI root out corrupt police? It is in London. So how about Toronto? Speaking ofâ¦Toronto’s cops are bulking up. Plus, the tough-guy book club. Plus, why do French Fries stolen from someone else’s plate taste better?
4. The gorilla my dreams. There’s a new documentary on Netflix with a 99-year-old man reading from journals he kept half a century ago, watching footage of mountain gorillas he once sat with in a Rwandan forest. Yes, it’s David Attenborough and A Gorilla Story. Plus winning news pix.
5. Neat feats. First, training planes. Plus Fred again gives a Tiny Desk concert on NPR. Plus AI tips and tricks. Plus how Finland wiped out homelessness. And who knew this about the U of T?
6. What’s coming for you? Surveillance pricing. And rich rare books. And two Michelin-starred diners in Toronto: Ricky + Olivia, and “156“. Plus the must-see AI Doc You can also download Artemis wallpaper. and find out if your family were Nazis. And discover the meaningful math of middle powers.
7. Carter Johnson plays Hughes Room. Last year, Nanaimo’s Carter Johnson became the first Canadian finalist in the Van Cliburn International Competition. The same year he was named silver laureate of the Honens International Competition and the first prize winner of the 2025 Dublin International Competition. He performs at Hugh’s Room on Wednesday, May 13. Tickets here.
8. Peaks by day. Provocation by night. There’s still room to join us at The Canada Summit, the four-day heli-hiking trip from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, where four leading Canadians (Steve Paikin, Dr. Heather Ross, Ron Deibert, and Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux) will discuss where we’re headed around politics, healthcare, cyber and AI, and Indigenous relations. If you can walk around your kitchen table, you can heli-hike. Details here.
Join us also on a Turkish gulet along Turkey’s “Turquoise coast”, and at The Kardamyli Festival in Greece this Fall with the entire front page of British non-fiction writers.
9. Rule changes⦠come to the World Cup. And a new weight-loss drug “better than Ozempic” is coming. Plus a 10-letter word for self-loathing. Plus Queen Elizabeth’s strange afterlife. And how two years of research takes just two weeks today.
10. World’s biggest⦠banks by assets⦠gas prices (Hong Kong at $15.65 a gallon)⦠army (Bangladesh by a country mile)⦠self-sufficient food countries (there’s just one)⦠Deadliest viruses (Rabies? really?) And most in debt to the IMF.
11. The frenzy over⦠Jackie O’s possessions⦠The Loo of the Year Award⦠letting go⦠naval failures⦠nobody accidentally feels great at 70⦠the Toronto Zoo’s one million dollar donation. And how the Metropolitan Opera lost $200 million in revenues.
12. What I’m reading. Two new reports by the U of T’s Citizen Lab, one of the world’s great unveilers of cybercrime. Last week on telecom surveillance, and this week on targeting journalists.