Eliud Kipchoge won the Berlin Marathon on Saturday. You probably didn’t know this if you’re American. That’s fine; marathons don’t make for great spectating, and the Boston Marathon is the only race that really becomes part of the national conversation stateside.
But you’re going to want to hear just how Kipchoge won the Berlin Marathon. That’s the real story here, one both inspiring and maddening at the same time.
Eventually both insoles would become so dislodged that Kipchoge was forced to run most of the race with an insole hanging out of each shoe.
Kipchoge’s shoes. Imagine running like this.
IMAGE: MICHAEL SOHN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
But there was no way to stop. Fixing the problem would waste precious time, and the irritation had grown so great there was no guarantee he’d be able to commence running again once he’d stopped.
And the most important line of the article:
“I had pain in my foot, but what could I do?” he told Runner’s World. “I had to finish the race.”
Blender Fox 