The MarathonThe marathon, 26.2 miles, is the premier endurance race and has been the ultimate long-term fitness goal for many runners this past century. The idea of running that far may seem intimidating at first, but it’s very attainable if you take small steps to get there. There were 385,000 marathon finishers in the US in 2005 - if they can do it, so can you. Almost half of these finishers (45%) were over the age of 40…over 14,000 of these finishers were over the age of 60! I find it disturbingly funny that the original marathoner, Phidippides, died at the end of his 26-mile trek from Marathon to Athens in 490 BC, or at least that’s how the myth goes. The first marathon race was run at the 1896 Olympics in Athens. The official distance of 26 miles and 385 yards came about at the 1908 Olympics in London, so that the race could start at Windsor Castle and finished in front of the King Edward’s & Queen Alexandria’s royal box at Shepard’s Bush stadium. The official distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (26.2 miles) has stood to this day. There are many schools of thought out there on how to properly train your body to run 26.2 miles. I personally like Jeff Galloway’s philosophy. Jeff Galloway is a former Olympian and is one the most effective long-distance running advocates of our time. His training plan is for the ‘everyday person’. It involves a slow and gradual increase of mileage, but overall has very low weekly mileage when compared to other plans. He has also recently included plans to finish the marathon by combining running and walking. He has developed proven training plans for a wide range of time goals. I would encourage anyone that is aspiring to run 26.2 miles to visit his website. He claims that anyone can finish a marathon with 6 months of training…training that can fit into our already hectic lives. If you like his philosophy, you might also enjoy his "Marathon" and "Book of Running" publications. No matter what training plan you chose, I would draw up a training plan that allows sufficient time to increase your mileage – no more than 10-15% a week. Plot your goal race on the calendar, and write down your mileage increases between now and then. The main ingredient of your training plan is the long run. Running 20 miles may seem unattainable, but look at it this way: If you can
run 3 miles
now: try running 5 miles this weekend: and 7 miles two weekends later; and 9 miles two weekends after that; and before you know it, you’ll have properly prepared your body to run 26.2 miles. If you're training for your first marathon, check out these
marathon tips.
After many long-distance runners conquer the distance of the marathon, they strive to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon was first run on April 19, 1897, with a field of 15 runners and a winning time of 2:55:10 (John J. McDermott). It has been run annually since then, and attracts the best long-distance runners from around the globe. Below are some of the more popular US Marathons: |