Records fall, records don't fall, books get written

A whistle-stop review of the week, and the opening page from my Ireland book

Today is first-draft deadline day for my Ireland book, and I’m still writing. I’ve been in a tunnel with it the last week, which has been fun, shaping this thing, honing it, but I’m still deep in it, and with little room, time, or space in my mind for much else.

I saw there was some interesting running going on this week. The Western States 100 was fast, as the sport of ultra running continues to get ever more professional. Kilian Jornet ran over an hour quicker than the year he won the race, and finished third. The UK’s Fiona Pascall was only 10 minutes slower than her sister, Beth, when she won the race just a few years ago, yet Fiona was only fifth.

Anyway, to catch up on it, this is a comprehensive report: Caleb Olson and Abby Hall Win Western States in Historically Fast Finishes

For fans of the most extreme end of ultra running, there was a new Backyard Ultra world record, by Phil Gore of Australia. He still seemed to be cruising when the race finally ended after 119 loops (that’s an insane 495.87 miles or 798km in nearly five days of running 4.1 miles every hour, on the hour, without fail). Gore was so unbelievably level and unflustered afterwards - I saw a clip where the runner-up, who ran just one loop fewer, invited him to sit down after the race, and Gore just went, “Nah, I’m off to have a shower,” as if he had just got up after a nice sleep. Zero emotion in his voice, which is perhaps his secret.

Finally, Faith Kipyegon ran her much-vaunted attempt to run a sub 4-minute mile. I didn’t love the whole thing, and you had to wonder why Nike went ahead with it when it was so obvious it wasn’t going to happen - that was what every expert on the subject was predicting. The leap was just too big.

It seems Nike placed all their hopes in the drafting strategy, working out the perfect formation of the pacemakers to shield Faith from the wind. But that showed very little understanding of actual running. Sure, maybe according to scientific models it was the best formation, but Faith just looked confused, and had no one running right in front of her, which is crucial, as locking your eyes on to the back of the person in front is a key part of being paced - it blocks out the world, the pain, everything. You just have one job: stay locked in.

Also, I know from experience that running as hard as you can next to people who are running the same pace easily, just makes you feel slow. In a normal race, Faith is streaking away, the fastest runner on the planet. That feeling alone is worth a hell of a lot. But to be surrounded by some of the best male athletes in the world, who seemed to be jogging (unbelievably) at 4-minute mile pace, must have just subconsciously made her feel like she wasn’t running that well.

Anyway, lots more could be said on that, but I’m in a mad rush here. If you want to know more, Steve Magness has a great write-up about the failings of the event (and the controversial decision to use moving time, not elapsed time) here: Female Sub 4 Mile Attempt Breakdown

I also agree with Magness that Kipyegon did incredibly well to deal with the hype, the pressure, and that she was courageous to put herself on the line like that. And she still ran faster than the world record, even after starting off at what was in the end a suicidal fast pace.

You can watch the race here if you haven’t seen it.

If you’ve read this far, then I have one last thing to share … it may only be a first draft, so things could still change, but here’s the opening of the Ireland book as it currently stands …