It’s not every day that a historic record happens. Yesterday, Sunday, April 26, at the London Marathon, Sabastian Sawe became the first man to run the marathon in under two hours. 1:59:30. He beat the previous world record of 2:00:35, set in 2023. It’s roughly the equivalent to Roger Bannister running the first sub-4-minute mile in 1954. Both are records that at one time were considered out of reach.

There are lessons.

First, it’s an illustration of training. Sawe didn’t break the record by accident: he trained for it!

Second, it’s a reminder that training doesn’t guarantee results. Sawe finished first, of course. The guy who finished second ALSO ran the marathon in under two hours! Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia ran 1:59:41, just 11 seconds behind. And the guy who finished third, Jacob Kipling of Uganda, ran 2:00:28, also breaking the previous world record.

You can’t make this stuff up. I’m sure they all three trained exactly the same way. All three ran the best they’d ever run. Only one got first place.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9.24, 25, NIV)

The good news is that in our race we can ALL get the prize:

Train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4.7, NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NIV)

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for another sub-two-hour marathon. When the 4-minute mile was broken, it wasn’t long before A LOT of runners broke 4 minutes. Today, the record for the mile is 3:43.13. I’m expecting the same thing here. Now that people know a marathon can be run in under two hours, the elite runners will chase it.