Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is beginning to show that there’s nothing that can stop him in the marathon.

The 31-year-old Kenyan won the BMW Berlin Marathon, Sun., Sept. 27 by almost a minute and a half in 2:04:00 even though he had to run most of the race with the insoles of his shoes coming out!

Last year he had won the star-studded London Marathon, outkicking former world recordholder Wilson Kipsang over the final two miles and leaving the current world recordholder Dennis Kimetto (2:02:57) even further behind.

Despite Kipchoge’s problem with his shoes in Berlin – the insoles coming out? – the 2:04:00 he  ran was his personal best, believe it or not, and was only a minute and a few ticks slower than Kimetto’s record. Do you think Kipchoge could have run faster if he had better footwear?

This was the sixth straight year that Kenyans have won the Berlin Marathon.

Kipchoge, who has emerged as the world’s top-ranked marathoner, winning five of the last six marathons he’s run, including the last four in a row, was hoping to perhaps improve on the world record in Berlin. But that wasn’t to be when the insoles of his shoes inexplicably starting coming out early in the race.

His feet hurting and no time to change or fix his shoes, he pressed on with the leaders before attacking at 32 kilometers, which split him free of the field.

At the finish he was well clear of his countryman Eliud Kiptanui, 27, who finished second in 2:05:21.

After the race Kipchoge said he was happy to set a new personal best and pointed out the obvious -- with the insoles coming out, his feet had been bothering him during the race.

Feyisa Lilesa, 26, of Ethiopia finished third in 2:06:57, followed by two more Kenyans, Emmanuel Mutai, 31, who was fourth in 2:07:46, and former world recordholder Geoffrey Mutai, 35, fifth in 2:09:29.

Canada’s Reid Coolsaet, 35, come home sixth in 2:10:28, but Jerome Drayton’s Canadian national record of 2:10:09, set way back in 1975, survived! Nonetheless, Coolsaet's run makes him second-fastest Canadian ever and shows he's well on target in his preparation for next year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The women’s winner in Berlin was Gladys Cherono, 33, of Kenya, who ran 2:19:25 to finish ahead of a trio of Ethiopian runners.

Aberu Kebede, 31, was second in 2:20:48, Meseret Hailu 29, third in 2:24:33, and Tadelech Bekele, 26, fourth in 2:25:01.

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