LONDON – Mo Farah has revealed that he plans to run the marathon when he wraps up his track career after next year’s IAAF World Championships but admits he also needs to “learn about the event.”
The twice Olympic double champion over the 5,000m and 10,000m distances has also won five world championships titles and the Briton plans to step away from the track at the conclusion of the worlds in London next year.
Farah, who is considered by many as one of the greatest distance runners of all time, said he wants to focus on running on the road, where he hopes to improve his marathon personal best of 2:08:21.
The 33-year-old ran the time in his only marathon in London in 2014 and he has plans to tackle Steve Jones’ British record of 2:07.13, set in 1985.
“I do have a lot of plans to run the marathon,” Farah was quoted as telling media agency Reuters on Monday.
“My aim is to get the world champs out of the way then see what I can do on the road.
“I believe I have to learn about the event, I have to understand what it takes.
“I’m good on the track but it’s taken me years to be able to get there. And same thing on the road.”
Many would have settled with a sub-2:10 performance in their debut marathon, but when the world record of Dennis Kimetto is sitting at 2:02.57 and the likes of Geoffrey Mutai (2:03:02), Kenenisa Bekele (2:03:03) and Eliud Kipchoge (2:03:05), among others, running great times, you can see why Farah wasn’t too happy with his time.
“My first marathon was two hours eight, it was okay but it wasn’t great,” he said.
“To be able to mix with the guys I’ll need to run a lot faster than that.”
