"We are hard-wired to discover new ways to test ourselves. The urge resides somewhere in our traveller genes." So argues Ed Caesar in his study of athletics' next frontier, the two-hour marathon. As in many sporting endeavours, marathon runners are reaching the limits of whatis believed to be humanly possible. The increasing popularity and professionalisation of running 26 miles and 385 yards (42.2km) saw the world record drop in the four decades to 1990 by nearly 19 minutes. In the last 25 years, elite runners have lowered it by almost another four minutes. In 2014, for the first time, the marathon was run in under two hours, three minutes. A two-hour marathon could be tantalisingly close.
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