In September, he ran the Berlin Marathon and finished third, in 2:06:47, just 62 seconds behind the winner. He blamed his performance on a bad night of sleep and limited training time because of a case of Covid-19. Regardless, calling it a season would have been perfectly appropriate.
Instead, he kept with his plan to also run New York, a race he has never done before, just six weeks after Berlin. He refuses to accept the idea that runners approaching their 40th birthday are not supposed to even think about winning one of the six world marathon majors. He said he believes he can find those two seconds he left on the course in Berlin in 2019 and break Kipchoge’s world record.
“I can go faster, and I can win races,” he said. “If I go faster I will win the race.”
Bekele going faster is a frightening thought for his competition, which speaks about the honor of being on the same starting line with someone many of them idolized growing up, and his enduring speed.
“If he goes out and runs 4:35 miles I’m not going to be seeing him very much,” said Jared Ward, a veteran American marathoner.
Still, in the world of marathon running there is Kipchoge and then there is everyone else. Kipchoge, who speaks in pithy parables, crashed through the two-hour barrier in 2019. He has achieved a mythic status in athletics, the fastest philosopher king in the history of the world.