Toni Reavis

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Nine men turned together from Kirkwood Boulevard onto Brady Street to begin the final mile of the 52nd Quad City Times Bix 7. Never before had so many been in contention so late on the rolling seven-mile course. Among the contenders were two former champions who now train in Flagstaff, Arizona, 2023 winner Biya Simbassa, and 2024 champion and 2025 runner-up Wesley Kiptoo. It…

For nearly three decades, the mile world record has been more museum artifact than athletic target. Yesterday in London, Josh Kerr changed that in 222.66 seconds. The larger question now is whether he also changed the future of the event itself.  Josh Kerr’s Project 222 delivered exactly what he promised. On a perfect day, with perfect pacing, the 28-year-old Scot ran 3:42.66 at the Diamond…

In 2009, a year before he died at 98, my father looked back on his youth in middle America during the 1920s and ’30s and compared it to the lives of children growing up in the 21st century. Marek, Pop, and I at Duff’s celebrating Pop’s 98th birthday Oct. 11, 2009 His conclusion was blunt: Millennials at age twelve were already more worldly than his Greatest Generation had been at…

In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that when “effectual demand” overwhelms available supply, the market must adjust. That’s what we have here, “effectual demand.” The 21st‑century running boom didn’t knock politely on the door of the London Marathon—it blew the hinges off. With 1.33 million entry requests for 2026—and room for only 60,000 finishers— the market of human ambition…

I have always drawn a distinction between runners and racers. Runners produce fast times in controlled environments—behind pacemakers, within a defined rhythm, insulated from disruption. They are like actors executing a script. Racers win competitions, especially major ones where split‑second decisions and risk can create reward or devastation. The difference is not primarily physical. It lies…

Dr. William “Bill” Burke — who passed away at age 87 on May 29, 2026, surrounded by his family — was many things: entrepreneur, civic leader, and inaugural president of the City of Los Angeles Marathon. He was also an unlikely figure to leave a lasting mark on the sport. He did not come from the marathon world. Instead, he won the bid to stage the race from the L.A. City Council in the wake of…

I don’t know if Australian Olympian Chris Wardlaw intended to start a fight – maybe he did. But he certainly articulated a feeling many lifelong observers of the sport have had but rarely say aloud. Yet his words cut straight to the heart of modern distance running: “I don’t want to be seen as a dinosaur creeping out of my grave screaming at people… But to me, it distorts what the true meaning…

History is rarely so visible in its making. But that is what we saw unfold in London on April 26, 2026. As two men sped along the streets of the English capital, the hand of history awaited at the Mall, stylus at the ready, record book open. It last marked this chapter in October 2023 in Chicago for the late Kelvin Kiptum — a name that would have been written again save for his tragic passing…

Last Sunday in London, Sebastian Sawe ran 1:59:30—the first sub-two-hour marathon ever recorded under record-eligible conditions. He did it wearing the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a shoe that weighs 97 grams and that Adidas claims 1.6% better economy than its predecessor. London runner-up Yomif Kejelcha (1:59:41) and women’s champion Tigist Assefa (2:15:41, a women’s-only world record) wore…

And so, it is done. From Pheidippides’ fatal run out of Marathon in 490 B.C. to the breaking of the two-hour myth in London 2026, the great barrier in the marathon has fallen. Simon Sawe of Kenya won the TCS London Marathon this morning in 1:59:30. Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, on debut, was second in 1:59:41. Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda held on for third in 2:00:28, also under Kelvin Kiptum’s old…

It has been a long time since the London Marathon men’s winner ran slower than the Boston Marathon men’s champion. • Boston 2011: Geoffrey Mutai ran 2:03:02, which was the fastest marathon ever at that time. • London 2011: Emmanuel Mutai won in 2:04:40. So Boston’s winning time was 1:38 faster. In every other year since, London’s winning time has prevailed. Why it’s so rare London’s course is…

Today, the NFL draft takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s where the top college football prospects get selected by pro teams in reverse order of last year’s standings. Each spring and fall, running goes through a similar ritual as the major marathons release their elite fields. While the system is not based on any order of selection, running fans behave just like football fans: we wait…

Geoffrey Mutai’s otherworldly 2011 stood as one of the great individual years in marathon history. His 2:03:02 in Boston in the spring was the fastest marathon ever run at the time, besting Haile Gebrselassie’s 2008 world record in Berlin by 57 seconds. It then survived as the Boston record for 15 years, including a decade into the Super Shoe era. Six months later, his 2:05:06 in New York City…

On the morning of the 130th Boston Marathon, I’ve been thinking about the strange elasticity of time and distance — how both stretch, compress, and reform under effort. Physics explains it with relativity. Runners experience it in the gut. Boston, more than any race, makes that tension visible. The physics is elemental: the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time. You can…

Without a ball or a modicum of violence, the idioms of American sport, the marathon has never quite caught on with the public as primarily a sporting contest. In an age of fractured attention spans, the long, slow build, rather than a new shot, pitch, or play every 30 seconds, swims against a strong cultural current. The marathon is a building drama that rewards close attention. But with…

Now 29 and a three-time major champion, Kenya’s John Korir will attempt to defend his Boston Marathon title next Monday in the 130th running of the great race. John Korir winning Boston 2025 I have known of John Korir since his older brother Wesley first came on the scene winning the Los Angeles Marathon in 2009. The University of Louisville grad spoke then about having a much younger brother —…