> Marathons are about running my own pace. The fact that there exists a world record is a piece of trivia.

I do find the record fascinating. If I take the 5k, 10k and half-marathon world records and double them then I can run faster than that. But for the marathon I'm a long way off. There's something uniquely difficult about it because it's not just going for a run, but fuelling and training your gut and pacing. I've only done 2 marathons, but I do find them uniquely difficult so for me its extra special to see how fast a human can do it in.

Can't help but think that the wins and records done barefoot and without refreshments in the 1960s are still a bit more about the runner than running with essentially spring loaded shoes, lab-optimized nutrition gels, computer optimized pacing strategies and multisensor real-time measurement devices.

It's also somewhat ironic for a race supposedly modeling a messenger running the distance in an emergency situation.

For sure but most of that innovation pre-super shoes was optimizing the runner, not the shoes

Of course it's also about the runner, that's why the Kenyan models dominate with their biological innovation.