Haile Gebrselassie is arguably the greatest distance runner of all time. With an amazing 26 world records to his credit, from 2 miles to the Marathon, he has done it all. Having been a sports buff myself and a long distance enthusiast in particular, I have followed his career with utmost interest and admiration. He recently bettered his own record in the race that he calls "the king of distance", the Marathon. And he bettered it by a whopping 26 seconds.

If put to a layman, bettering 26 seconds in a 2 hour 4 minute race might not sound as a news that deserves the kind of excitement and admiration. But, like any other sport, one appreciates the nuances better if one plays or at least dabbles in it. Been into long distance running for quite sometime now, I can really appreciate the significance of this delta. To make up for that small difference, not only must the race be planned well beforehand, the plan needs to be executed to perfection as well. And given that the race spans over two hours, there are ample opportunities for Murphy's laws to strike and things go wrong. While some factors are under the runners control, there are quite a few like weather that are outside the runners control. Conquering them all and posting a World Record time in a Marathon is no mean achievement. Really hats off to him.

Here are some really interesting and detailed analysis of the run for those who are interested.

World Record 1
World Record 2