Best Moments of 2017: Nike celebrates Eliud Kipchoge with great commercial (pre Berlin), from RunBlogRun Archives September 2017

Originally released by Nike September 2017

Reposted by RunBlogRun On January 1, 2018

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This is a twofer. Eliud Kipchoge won the breaking2 event. It was an amazing example of what Nike could do, a fine, orchestrated, well timed ad produced event, and it showed Eliud Kipchoge’s talent, drive and capabilities. In September, Eliude Kipchoge won the best race of the year, the Berlin Marathon, from a debuting marathoner. Eliud is the man. Can Eliud break 2 hours in a bona fide race? I am not sure anyone can, but Eliud Kipchoge can and will break the world record for the marathon. He is the finest marathoner in the world.

I have to admit, as I was watching the breaking 2 live stream, I started to finally get it. I was up all night in Doha, Qatar, watching on my iphone and ipad, as espressos coursed down my veins. The coverage was fantastic, and the best stream I had ever seen. I remember saying, “twitter sports is the future of sport.”

Breaking 2 inspired another generation of runners and reminded this older generation of the brashness from which Nike was born. Geoff Hollister would have been proud.

Eliud Kipchoge winning Berlin, 2017, photo by PhotoRun.net

I tweeted over 150 comments during the broadcast, trying to give, especially the new runners a chance to appreciate the absolute performance we were witnessing. It was not a race, and that was okay. But, it was, in truth a two hour celebration of the finest marathoner in the world. The attention to detail by Nike was fantastic. My only beef was that, with a few thousand real fans on the field, during his last two or three laps could have pushed Eliud over the edge. I just remember his glorious smile in Chicago when he won there.

Enjoy the video an realize, that you are watching the finest marathoner in a generation. I like to call Eliud Kipchoge the zen master of the marathon.

This commercial was done just prior to Berlin. As an instagram post, it has 786,000 views. Pretty impressive. Truth is, in Berlin, Eliud Kipchoge showed he could do just about anything. His win was thoughtful and his move to the front was not a nervous reaction, but the calculated decision of a fine marathoner, who knows, if you focus, and pick up the pace just a bit you are going to catch the new guy who has had no marathon experience.

“2:02:57; to many people it’s a barrier. To me, it’s slower than my personal best.” This weekend @kipchogeeliud chases the world record in Berlin. #Breakthrough
A post shared by nike (@nike) on Sep 22, 2017 at 8:00am PDT

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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