Perspective

Take a look at this list:

1:01:49 - 13.1 miles
29:15 - 10K

14:37 - 5K
4:43 - 1 mile
2:20 - 800m
1:10 - 400m

How far down the list do you have to go before you can run one of the listed time/distance?  If trained, I could run a 2:20 800m, but it would be hard.  I know a handful of people that can run a sub-4:43 mile.  I even know a handful of people who can run a 14:37 5K (I use to work with and around a bunch of former collegiate runners).  I know a few people who can pull off that 10K time.  I even know one person who can run that half marathon time, but he's Ethiopian.  The every day runner may not know anyone who can hit any of those times.  Maybe they have a "fast" friend who can run the 400 or the 800, but to most people those times are not even close to conceivable.

What all those times have in common is that they are all the same pace--4:43/mile.  That's the pace that Patrick Makau ran for 26.2 miles a couple weeks ago at Berlin when he set the new world record.