Watching as Eliud Kipchoge powered away in the final few miles to take gold in the Olympic men’s marathon yesterday put me in the mood for a good run. Just for the fun of it – and to celebrate the weather in North London being temporarily better than that in Rio – I had a crack at reaching the 4 minute 55 seconds per mile pace he averaged in his 2:08:44 victory.
I couldn’t get close until I hit on the idea of running down a gentle grassy slope and, with a helpful tail wind, eventually hit the magic pace … for about 50 metres at least.
“You don’t look like a runner” is a common reaction when I tell people I enjoy running marathons and ultras. With that in mind I fed my height and weight into the BBC’s Olympic Body Match interactive. Apparently I’d be better suited to basketball or tennis. (To make myself feel better I ran it with my weight five years ago – before I started running – and it came back with weightlifting, wrestling and shot put).
Of course I know it doesn’t really matter that I’m not built like a runner – but yesterday evening, with the aid of gravity and the wind at my back, I knew for few seconds how it felt to run like one.
Have you been inspired by the Olympics? As always, share your weekend triumphs and woes below the line
