Geb rues a fast early pace in Dubai

This morning world record holder Haile Gebrselassie posted the second fastest ever marathon with a 2:04.53 clocking in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon but arguably missed improving his own record after a 61.27 first half.

Its no coincidence that recent WR runs in the marathon have been achieved with a negative split i.e. running the first half slower than the second.

Personally, in my 4 four marathons i've run 2 with negative splits and 2 where I went out too quick. No prizes for guessing which I prefer ! The negative split races I ran closer to my potential and recovered much faster. I wrote earlier about starting London 2006 too quick and how ugly that got.

So if you are thinking going out faster in London to get ahead of schedule is a sound tactic, think again ! Even the greatest can't make it work.