Sub 2 hour Marathon.

[JWags85]

The response to this has been pretty absurd IMO. From what I've seen, those in the professional running community/distance fans have been like "this is super cool, what a beast". While the people who completed their 1 Chicago Marathon in 4:45 or killjoy nerds like Rovell have poo poo-d the accomplishment and breathlessly cataloged his advantages.  Nobody has tried to claim it as a WR and clearly it wasn't an official race, but jeez. If Usain Bolt ran a wind aided 9.35 100M, they would be like "NOT LEGIT" instead of "my god that's foolishly fast"

[StillAWarrior]

At the time, I decided to see how long I could keep up a 5:00 per mile pace on a track. I did the quarter mile under 75 seconds several times, but I could never keep the pace for a full half mile. It's just unfathomable to imagine someone going even faster for 26.2 miles.

I'm not a runner.  Never have been.  Even when I was in shape, I simply sucked at running.  If I put a treadmill at it's fastest speed, I'm either going to fall down or zip off the back pretty much immediately.  And these guys are going faster than that for two hours.  It's honestly hard for me to believe that's even possible.

[Heisenberg]

Their is a similar argument in women's marathons.

Last week in Chicago Brigid Kosgei set the women's world record at 2:14.04. But Chicago was a mixed race so she had men pace her literally to the finish line.

Next month is the New York City marathon. In that race the elite women start before the elite men (about 30 minutes before).  This way they have no men pacers.

Some argue that races with men's pacers like Chicago should not count for the official world record.  For now, it does.