What REALLY Happened To Eliud Kipchoge 

As a 6 time Boston Marathon finisher , finished 125th at 100th anniversary in 2:27:00, I whole heartedly agree with your concise assessment because I did exactly that at my first attempt. The seduction of the downhill is what makes heartbreak so difficult. I flew to Boston 2 months before my next one and drove to heartbreak and couldn't believe how easy it was to train on. I immediately knew one had to arrive at it fresh enough not to feel it. I applied a strict negative split strategy and breezed the back half. You live and learn. No matter who you are. 👍

Very wise perspective. As a pacer myself and experiencing courses multiple times certainly gives you an advantage on strategy and you are aware of the demand on your body at different times.

I did not know he never ran this race are you kidding? The course ate his lunch!You are spot-on the other 3 had a strategy he ran 'balls to the wall' and you are correct net down hill until around 15/16/17 miles to chestnut hill 10k to go. Go 28 min and win it

@@dennispacelli1007 Yes, Eliud had never run the Boston Marathon before AND had not trained on the course before race day. This was probably a mistake.

A Solid assesment. This course is basically downhill for the first 8 miles and many, even the most elite runners, find themselves crushing their predicted time in the first half. It is easy to be wiped out at Mile 18 or 20 on this course. I wondered if the rain and cold was an added factor. I believe it was. Those Nikes soak up water like a sponge. That certainly didn't help. (Maybe it's time to switch to Addidas.) He's amazing and was still the crowd favorite. Yet given the unpredictable wide range of weather in Boston during this race, I'm not sure it's ever going to be his record breaker. I've run it in snow and sleet and pouring rain and then in serious heat in 2016. My times have been all over the map on this course. I love watching the best athletes in the world run this race from hometown.😊🎉❤

And whether people want to except it or not, he is getting older. May not like it, but it’s a fact of life.

You can’t win it all when it comes to anything lol. And plus 2:09 is still really fucking incredible

@@ndi5670 Has nothing to do with it. He's run slower times at various ages. You can't run a personal best every time you step on the track or enter a race. Get real.

@@mts7274 I agree, although they do have a point. Though age may not have caused his “bad” performance, Kipchoge probably only has a few phenomenal years left. Whether he retires in 1 year or 10 years, he probably will begin to get slower and more injury prone once he he hits his early forties.

@@americanninjawarriorkid2643 Good lord that's true for ANY sport, but implying that in this instance is totally laughable, and ignorant. Evans Chebet is 34 years old, and in any future race, if he runs a slower time, it would be just as easy [and ignorant] to say "Well, he is getting older." What a joke.

At one point he actually slipped to 7th then 8th, then back to 6th.

Or, it could be telling of something else 🤔

Had to come off the epo

He was in top form and running to the cold headwind as pacemaker isn't easy and tactically it's disaster against experienced 2:03flat marathon runners. We all should give credit for his Berlin pacers, three of them managed sub1hr half as front runner. Kipchoge has greatest running form but Boston type of course requires also highest Vo2max and perfect downhill skills.

​@19Kamau79 Yeah, I'm not an expert but I heard a hilly course isn't favorable for him.

Hi how can I join marathon,,

He's good but Kiptum would have been the future and the goat. He has 3 of 7 best records in the main marathons. It's sad, he could of been the Phelps of Marathons. The Bolt of Marathons. Passed at 24 years age.

He and his coach should've had a game plan if everybody tried to force him to lead the whole time. It's not hard to run to the side, then dramatically reduce your speed for 20 seconds and force someone else to lead. Just my 2 cents.

​@@RA-lu6mb Possibly. I'm not an elite level marathoner so I don't know for sure. But maybe slowing your pace like that and getting out of your rhythm has negative effects. I mean if it doesn't, why not stop and grab a bottle if it's so important and you miss the grab. Then you could get your bottle and get in the back of the pack. For some reason they don't do that. I do know when I am running a marathon I really try to keep an even effort and try not to speed up or slow down too much as it takes more energy for me to do that. Just lock in, shut off your brain and go... which I think is why "following" is much easier than leading. Then again even if altering your pace to get others to pass is a viable option, that doesn't mean they WILL pass you. I've see lead runners practically walk in 10K races on the track trying to get someone else to lead, but the followers just slow down too. Maybe that's a good tactic? I don't know. Any elite marathoners know if slowing down to let someone else lead (if they don't want to) is a successful strategy? I would like to know.

@@RA-lu6mb yea i mean he could have easily slowed down and forced them to pass him, right?

​@@alex-dk2rjMight be to hard to accellerate rapidly back up to that speed rather than gradually. They are still running fast. It just looks slow because the camera is on a bike.

@@gm2407 exactly, at that pace I'd be running at a full sprint! Of course I'm not super elite, but if you see them live, they are MOVING!

I agree, 2h09 is still a vey good time

@@yvesdesrochers8288 Indeed, especially at Boston. Marathons can be tricky. I've run 16 in my life, won 9, but they were local ones. He's run the biggest Marathons in the world and done incredible.

I dont think people are upset, just surprised.

I think he’s the only guy disappointed, but the rest of us are still in awe of his dominance. To have a bad day and run like that is unbelievable to most all of us.

Great comment!

*missed sugar water bottle.

Guessing his age by the way he looks i would say he does very well for a 49 year old man.

Eeeexactly

@@mikeotis He is 39, NOT 49.

Agree with what you were saying, he was racing in the AlphaFly 2s though, not the Vapors. Alphas are less of an issue in rain and slippy pavements compared to the Vapors

I'd add "frustration" into the rationale, as well. He was visibly frustrated about being out front, most likely frustrated about his leg issue, and quite possibly frustrated about his shoes and the missed water bottle. Psychologically these may have added up and contributed to what was, for him, a lackluster finish. I also agree with you about age. It's the one opponent no one can outrun. If we're lucky enough to live beyond our athletic primes, it will eventually overtake us all.

Most important: Others running better than him

PLUS poor strategy going in....Went out too fast he's NOT too old He got cocky out there looking back waving them up stupid run your own damn race PERIOD!

@@dannyholley It could also be not knowing just how bad the Boston course's hills are. I read somewhere that he had not even gone over the course before race day, and did his "normal marathon training" -- that is, NOT specific hill training. I think if he tries Boston again, he will train better next time and might have a better result.

this!!!!

duh its a race

The ones in the front make it easier for the ones running behind...

@@pigu8734 he means there was a coordinated effort against Kipchoge specifically

@@philoneussquire3877 that's racing 101 weeding out the strongest guy to increase your chances of winning

I fully agree Now that he knows how the downhill -> into Newton Hills works I'm sure next time he will have a better plan. I'm really surprised that a bit after starting when it was apparent that the record wasn't going to be broken, why he didn't just slow up to force other people to lead.

Emma ran a great race but it was inevitable she would get dropped in the final miles. I don't think the comparison with Kipchoge is apples to apples, though. I bet if he comes back next year he'll do better knowing the course better for sure.

He's 39. Also, people started the "Oh, he's too old shit" and then he broke 2 hours and won the Olympics again. Everyone has bad days. It had nothing to do with age.

​@@joewillburn There's speculations he is actually 44, born in 1978.

@Knut I know. But that still doesn't change my point, and the facts it stated. One bad race doesn't mean a thing. If he starts consistently failing to podium and win, then we can start looking at alternatives.

Weeeeeeeee 49 yrs 😢 can't you see this is old man

@@jacksonmutua1013 oh. Is he participating this marathon?

He didn’t specify where on his leg and was annoyed when the reporter kept askimg, so I think, maybe it was not his leg but his weiner

​@@Sh0n0 I mean it's also annoying that the reporter is making it more complicated than it needs to be. It sucks to prepare all that time and then have your legs not feel 100% the one day you have to perform. It doesn't matter what exactly didn't feel fluid it just wasn't at 100%. But he still ran a sub 2:10 at less than 100% that's friggin nuts

Totally agree with the leg thing. I pulled my quad in a warm up for a 10km race in October, and even though I could go faster my leg would let me go faster than 4min per/km pace. I had a lump in my quad that when I lifted my knee it wouldn't go higher and it would shorten my stride The next race in March I ran a 37:45min for a 10km. Now imagine that for a hilly marathon of 42.2km where you need to lift you knee. Yes both my races where at 10'celcius and the March race was wet and windy.

It looks a lot like his leg. I just noticed this now but after he was dropped his form looks slightly asymmetrical, almost like his right shoulder is coming forward more than his left. You could tell during the race that his cadence was way down and he had zero explosiveness

I hope it's not IAE.. That would be bad.

Kipchoge had less than 40 minutes of running left, digestion takes time, and he got all his other drinks, missing the bottle here was very very likely more mental than physical

Water, though very quick to absorb, would not have been able to make a difference so soon after ingesting it. So, it also would not have made a difference so soon after missing it.

miss your sugar every 20mins and BYE BYE fast times/PR times.

@@durianriders that... wasn't the situation here so did you mean to comment somewhere else?

I have over 40 marathons done ..I would not compare myself to Kipchoge or to any elite marathon runner😊

For sure

And Evans will beat him again !!!

@@jameschaves5723 I doubt it. If he stays healthy, he will win.

​@@jameschaves5723 dog

I ran it also, I thought the weather was pretty good considering it was 92 degrees on the Friday! There was a headwind the whole way also. But to be fair Boston is a tricky course and you need to be familiar with that course to know where to attack and hold back slightly. I agree with you, all true champs come back. Hope he has a crack at NYC!

Yeah, the top runners "run" at the speed of a regular person's Sprint. For two hours. It is insane.

What was your time? Is it flattish or hilly?

​@@nachot6592 They say that the average person couldn't keep with with these runners on their last km.

facts, Alpha flys and tempos are very bad with water

dont be disappointed he did great though.There is lot of Marathons out there

Disappointed in him? Tell that to face. It's so fucking hard to do this at a high level. He does it for himself not for you.

He was running with an injury

kiplimo or ingerbritsen?

​@@tomascanevaro4292 Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Nobody cares about Kiplimo quotes. 😂

Yeah he runs the 1500m way different type of race from a marathon a 1500m now a days is almost a sprint

Sure

He told us what happened.

@@joewillburn Others running better than him, thats what happened.

@@Nmzc he had an injury where his leg wasn't lifting as it should. Yes, he was beaten on the day. Doesn't mean anything significant about his career.

@@joewillburn Sure, but many others running with injuries as well.

irregardless...not regardless.

Everyone’s shoes would’ve been waterlogged then, would’nt have been an effect

The Alphafly barely hold any moist, no way this was a factor. Missing a water bottle can end a race at this level.

What of Olympics

Agree but it's hard to fault them, he has been the biggest target in every marathon he's run for years now and he's the one to beat in every race he runs, so it's not like any of his competitors are looking to make things easier for him.