2011 New York Marathon Results: World Records Have Become a Passing Thing

Remember when world records stood the test of time?

Remember when marathon runners were paraded around for decades with their records still intact?

Well, you can forget about those days.

Just this year, some of the world's biggest marathons—Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin—all saw their course records broken.

That was before three men broke the New York Marathon's previous course record on Sunday.

Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai, who already broke the Boston Marathon's course record this year, dashed across the finish line on Sunday with a time of two hours, five minutes and six seconds, beating the 2:07:43 course record set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia in 2001.

But he wasn't the only one. Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya finished second in 2:06:28 and Tsegaye Kebede placed third in 2:07:13.

Kebede must have wondered what the world was coming to. He broke the previous record and still finished in third place.

Keep in mind that the 30-year-old Geoffrey Mutai actually broke the world record in Boston, but it wasn't entered in the record books because of the course's slope and tailwinds.

This is becoming absurd. Course records are being eclipsed before record holders can even celebrate. In the ancient days, marathon winners enjoyed the world's praise for at least a few years.

Now they're lucky if their records stand longer than one year.

The phrase, "Live in the moment," should be the slogan for marathons these days. At least if runners are in that mindset, they won't be disappointed when they see their course records go up in flames.

As for Geoffrey Mutai, he's simply disappointed that he wasn't named the world-record holder in Boston.

“I am still fighting to be,” he said, via The New York Times.

So is the rest of the world. Something tells me the world record will be broken soon.