It's that time of the year, most road races are coming to a close with the Christmas races around the country give us a last chance to post a best time for 2015. Spare a thought also for the East of Ireland Marathon Club who will be running back to back marathons this weekend.
It's sometimes difficult to gauge our time. Even trying to compare your time for the Cork Marathon to the Dublin Marathon, the difference in terrain and race day conditions can easily add 5 or 10 minutes here or there. With that in mind, I was found myself stumbling on a Wikipedia article showing the top celebrity marathon times and to be fair, I found myself wondering just who I was better than. The competitive side soon kicks in and you'll be saying "Surely I can beat them" before you reach the end of the list.
5. Bryan Cranston - New York Marathon 1985 - 03:20:45
Walter White has some wheels. The Breaking Bad actor ran the New York City Marathon in 1985. According to a piece in the New Yorker, Cranston watched the race the year before and was inspired to run it himself. “…old people, children, people in bunny costumes, people who’d lost their legs, this amazing menagerie of humanity,” he told the New Yorker.
4. Amélie Mauresmo - Paris Marathon 2012 - 03:16:49
Mauresmo, a Grand Slam Tennis winner showed the mental determination and focus of a champion by running a very respectable 3:16. To our knowledge, this is the fastest marathon by a Grand Slam Tennis winner, but we are looking more into this. Regardless, the time is a great testament to a true champion
3. Luis Enrique - Florence Marathon 2007 - 02:58:08
Not only can Luis Enrique boast a 3:14:09 from the 2005 New York Marathon but he also turned in an agonising 3:00:19 in Amsterdam in 2006, before finally going sub-3 with an excellent 2:58:08 in Florence in 2007. And on top of that, the Spaniard has moved up to ultra distances, completing the 260km Marathon des Sables across the Sahara desert in 2008.
2. Jenson Button - London Marathon 2015 - 02:52:30
While he is not zipping around on the race track, Formula One driver Jenson Button can be seen demonstrating his speed even without his car.
An avid marathon and triathlon runner, the stellar Formula One driver had the London Marathon and the Ironman in Philippines under his belt. He even completed the former in 2014 (his first in that series) with an incredible 2:52:30, an elite timing by marathon standards.
1. Lance Armstrong - New York Marathon 2007 - 02:46:43
The former Tour de France winner ran a very strong 2:46 marathon time. This was Armstrong’s first marathon, and he said that running the 26.2-mile distance, particularly the final eight miles, was the “hardest physical thing” he had ever done.
His dark green shirt was soaked with sweat, his gait stiff. He said his calves felt as if someone were squeezing them, hard. And his shinsplints were flaring up again. It remains to be seen if this result should stand in light of revelations regarding his colourful end to his tennis career and revelations that he took performance enhancing drugs. Regardless, he is the quickest celebrity to date.