First-time marathoners always worry about their pacing, and Emil Zàtopek was no exception. When the Czech superstar made his 42.2K debut at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, he had already won the 5,000m and 10,000m races, but he still wasn’t sure how to judge his effort over the longer distance. The reigning world record holder, Jim Peters of Great Britain, surged to an early lead. When Zàtopek caught up shortly after the 15-km mark, he expressed his concern.
“The pace, Jim,” he asked, as biographer Richard Askwith recounts, “is it too fast?”
“No, it has to be like this,” Peters replied irritably. Zàtopek was silent for a few moments, then tried again.
“Are you sure it is not too fast?”
“Actually, it’s too slow.”
Who among us doesn’t sympathize with…