Sports scientists and gear manufacturers spend their days coming up with new ways to make running faster, easier and healthier.Ed Whitlock ignored every single one of their innovations.That’s a big part of what made the legendary runner so appealing and his dozens of world record runs on the track and road so astonishing.He didn’t follow a special diet, he didn’t cross-train or stretch, he didn’t have a coach and he didn’t use any of the latest running gear.He simply ran as long as he could in training and as fast as he could in a race, firm in his belief that people can do far more than they think they can. And, in the process, he redefined what’s possible for runners at any age.Whitlock, who died of prostate cancer in March, a week after his 86th birthday, remains the only runner in the world over 70 years of age to run a sub-three-hour marathon and the oldest man, at 85, to run a sub-four-hour one.Those world records along with another of his will be honoured with special pace groups at Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.“I’m 43 years old and this will be my 18th marathon and the only one of Ed’s paces that I could comfortably do was the one when he was 85 and had cancer,” says Ben Kaplan, who will lead the three-hour, 56-minute group.That’s Whitlock’s final world record over the 42.2-kilometre distance, which he set last year at this race.“It’s unbelievable and the notion of walking in his footsteps fills me with awe and wonderment,” says Kaplan, manager of iRun magazine.Two other runners will lead groups at Whitlock’s 2:54 marathon record, which he set when he was 73 years old and, if age-graded, is considered by many to be one of the fastest marathons ever run, and his 3:15 record set when he was 80. Pacers run specific times to help other runners achieve their race goals.Whitlock was really on his third running career when he started consiste ...
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