A quarter century ago, as Ed Eyestone was retiring from distance running, he was asked when the world record marathon finish would break two hours.
“Not in my lifetime,” Eyestone said. “When you only have a few guys who have run under 60 (minutes) for the half-marathon, it’s going to be a long time before we get people under two hours.”
Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe ran the 26.2 miles in 1:59.30 and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha was right behind him at 1:59.41.
“April 26th should go down in history in every bit of relevance as when the four-minute mile was broken in 1954,” said the former NCAA cross country national champion and United States Olympian, who back in his day, ran an impressive 2:10.59. “It’s pretty historic. The fact that two of them did it is huge.”
The arrival of such a record so soon surprised Eyestone, but the path to get to this moment has been evolving for years.
“World-class equipment, coupled with world-class athletes, world-class nutrition, world-class training and due to the internet, a lot of these secrets are shared,” he said. “It’s a perfect storm for marathon speed.”
Eyestone credits the biggest change to the shoe. Today’s “super shoe” weighs about as much as an apple (97 grams). The shoe Sawe ran his record run in was the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, which sounds like something NASA would come up with. Every serious shoemaker has a similar model.
“You will see everybody wearing that shoe. It’s not just the weight, but the mechanics inside the shoe — the carbon-plated midsoul that gives more energy return and the foam provides cushioning,” Eyestone said. “In the past, because you didn’t have the mechanical advantage, it was more of a reality that you were going to ‘hit the wall,’ now with the new shoes, nutrition and training — it makes it so you can run right through the wall.”
The BYU director of track and field and men’s cross country coach worked out his runners in the rain on Monday as the Cougars prepare to host this weekend’s Robison Invitational in the final primer for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
In the wake of Sawe’s accomplishment and for his current, future and former distance runners — Eyestone’s message is the same.
“I sent a text out to the guys after the double world record and said, ‘Well, that gives us another goal to shoot for. We’ve got to keep working. We’ve got to close the gap.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.