Marathon Training History
The legend has it that a Greek soldier named Pheidippides, was sent running from the battlefield in Marathon Greece to alert the citizens of Athens that the Greek army had soundly beaten the Persians in battle.
While there are differing variations of the story, some hold that Pheidippides burst into the senate room, shouted "Victory" and dropped dead on the spot. Making the celebration of the event slightly ironic to many runners.
There is some debate over the accuracy of the original story however. Some historians have accounts that Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta, to request assistance for the battle. This distance is over 150 miles round trip.
It wasn't until the late 1800's that a famous poem popularized the legend and it then became accepted as fact. Most runners will admit the accuracy of the tale is actually quite unimportant, the lore of the marathon remains nonetheless.
An interesting thing to note is that, while the modern race is just over 26 miles, many have fluctuated quite a bit over the 20th century. Ranging from 24 to 27 miles in official Olympic distances.
Marathon training mania in the United States can be traced back to the Olympic victory of US runner Johnny Hayes in 1908. This popularized marathon training in the US and brought the event into the main stream. Frank Shorters victory in the 1972 games catapulted the distances popularity among average runners.
Over 400,000 runners will line up at the starting gates of marathons across the country this year. What is even more impressive is that over half of these runners will be first timers.
The incredible history of marathon training is a romantic and fun way to keep the spirit of the race alive. It's often fun to imagine, during the rigors of a marathon training schedule, what it must have been like for those first runners all those years ago.
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