Why running a 63 min half marathon isn't fast enough...

This is unquestionably the stat of this week's blog, despite the dominance of Lagat and Rupp.

Alistair Cragg - The 31-year old South African - who runs under the Irish flag since 2003- is one of the world's top non-'East African' (Kenya, Ethiopia, & Eriteria).

The 2008 Olympian holds 4 Irish national records, including a blistering 13:03 for 5,000m (4:12/mile or 2:35/km) and a 27:39 for 10,000m (4:27/mile or 2:46/km).

My point is that this guy can move, especially for a white boy!

Now let me ask you a question... actually two:
1) How would I feel if I said that you had the potential to run a 63:39 for a half marathon? That means a pace of 4:51/mile or 3:01/km. That would be good enough to win about 98% of all half marathon races. I'm sure you would be quite content with such a performance.

Note: before I ask you question #2, a bit of trivia for you: only 17 Americans beat that time in 2011.

2) How would you feel about running THAT incredible time but only finishing 65th OVERALL in a race!?!?

Well that's precisely what happened at a Japanese Half Marathon last week! Alistair Cragg ran 63:39 and placed 65th! In fact, I've never seen a race so deep. 178 runners ran faster than 70 mins for a half marathon (5:20/mile or 3:19/km)!! Just incredible!

Just when you thought you could be satisfied with a performance... back to the drawing board.