In excess of the earlier couple a long time, the activity of functioning has been upended by a discussion in excess of shoe engineering. It all began in early 2017, when Nike introduced a prototype known as the Vaporfly that was billed as improving a runner’s performance by 4 percent—a declare that was tricky to imagine until that spring, when Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge arrived seconds away finishing a marathon in beneath two hrs. The functioning community’s reaction was swift, with many saying that the shoe was not a breakthrough, it was a cheat. A large amount has adjusted because then, with records at many distances staying obliterated when other shoe makes look to replicate the Vaporfly’s accomplishment, even as they contact for new Nike prototypes to be banned. These days, even with the Olympics and other major athletic activities postponed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the activity of functioning continues to be upside down, with the target still on sneakers in its place of on who’s wearing them. Outdoors editor Chris Keyes speaks with our Sweat Science columnist, Alex Hutchinson, about how we got here and what it all suggests for the future of the activity.