The Winning Way

The official four-minute barrier had daunted runners for generations and was spoken of by some as an insurmountable barrier that was physiologically impossible. Roger had high hopes of breaking through it, with the eyes of the world watching, so that others might follow

Yuki Kawauchi of Setagaya, Tokyo, recently turned a very bright light on his country’s running legacy, given a chance by almost no one, he won the Boston Marathon — the oldest and most prestigious of the world’s annual marathons — in frigid temperatures, relentless wind, and horizontal rain. Here's how he prepared.

"Shalane Flanagan cut such a familiar figure Sunday at the New York City Marathon, running toward the cameras in Central Park with her upright carriage, high cheekbones flushed with exertion, chin tucked, blond ponytail switching back and forth like a metronome. Now she was the one who was accelerating beyond reach."

A recently published report from the website RunRepeat.com found that American road race results are slower than ever before. The report looked at more than 34 million U.S. road race results between 1996 and 2016, the largest analysis of its kind. The only ones not getting slower are the top elite runners.