Nike runners
Nike’s elite runners, from left, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, and Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea. (Nike Photo)

Just do it — faster. Nike is lacing up to go after what is considered one of the more unbreakable barriers in all of sports, with a “moonshot attempt” to produce a sub 2-hour marathon time.

The Portland-based maker of athletic gear announced a new initiative on Monday called Breaking2. The project will seek to “unlock the limits of human potential through athletes, product innovation, training and environment.”

The current men’s world record is held by Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, who ran 2:02:57 in Berlin in 2014. Nike says the seemingly impossible quest to lower that time by 3 percent is exactly what is driving the company.

Nike says it launched a full-time commitment to break the 2-hour barrier in the summer of 2014 with the formation of the Breaking2 team. The team is made up of experts across biomechanics, coaching, design, engineering, materials development, nutrition and sports psychology and physiology.

Runners and sports fans should recall Sir Roger Bannister’s historic feat in 1954 when he became the first to run a 4-minute mile. Nike says that within one year, 24 more runners had followed Bannister’s lead. To get a marathon time below two hours, seven seconds will have to be shaved off each of the 26.2 miles of the event.

Nike has enlisted three “elite athletes,” as it calls them, in Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea. They are “perfectly equipped” and “bold enough” to take on the challenge.

A landing page on Nike’s website encourages those interested to check back and watch for updates on the company’s and the runners’ progress in 2017. And, of course, there are links to the Nike+ Run Club app and the ability to shop for running shoes.

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