Marathon

"The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards), that is usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon (the namesake of the race) to Athens. The historical accuracy of this legend is in doubt, contradicted by accounts given by Herodotus, in particular.

The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 500 marathons are contested throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes. Larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants." (info from Wikipedia meh ..)

All this while .. I only heard about marathon ..sometimes we can see it in TV during Olympic Games .. but after experienced it my self running my first marathon in 2009 ... then I realise the beauty of running marathon .. it actually started way before the day of the event itself ... for certain runners .. beginner or professional .. up to 6 months before .. as for me, registered for my first marathon just to gain experience and to feel the pain running 42.195 km ..

World Record so far ..

Men
2h03:59
Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia on 28 September 2008 at Berlin Marathon

Women
2h15:25
Paula Radcliffe from Great Britain on 13 April 2003 at London Marathon

There are trillion reasons why peoples running marathon ... from money to nanny ... don't be suprised .. Buster Martin – 101 year old Marathon runner .. you can find his insteresting story here http://planetultramarathon.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/buster-martin-101-year-old-marathon-runner/ .. he can be our motivational factors for many marathon runners outhere ..

Main factors in running marathon ... TRAINING, TRAINING and TRAINING ... the long run is an important element in marathon training ... its good for your endurance .. besides, weekly training millage also essential to be included into your training regime .. [Most male elite marathon runners will have weekly mileages of over 100 miles (160 kilometres).] fr. WIKIPEDIA. 160 K ? .. wow this is really-really-really elites ...

anyone who interested in running marathon ... you can learn from internet .. various sources .. but the best is to get the advices and technics from experienced marathoners .. learn from their experiences .. internet is good for theory .. for practical ... must ask from the experts ..

Interesting facts about marathon:

• In the United States, a popular goal is to run a marathon in each state (50 in total) plus Washington, D.C.. Over 350 individuals have completed this circuit once and some have done it eight times. [LA Marathon, NY Marathon, Boston Marathon, Minnesota, Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada .. etc.. ] this guy, a diebetic try to conquer 50 marathons in 50 states http://www.kurtbauman.com/


• 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days ... [295.365 km in total] ... in 2003 British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes completed seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. He completed this feat despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass operation just four months before .. he completed runs on the Falkland Islands, Santiago in Chile, Sydney, Singapore, London, Cairo and New York .. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3234479.stm


• 100 marathon club ... http://www.100marathonclub.org.uk/ .. club for those had completed 100 marathons .. for runners in UK and Ireland ..


• Michael Wardian ran Frederick Marathon in Maryland (2009) with his then nine-old son .. with timing of 2:42:21 ... world fastest marathoners with a stroller


• marathon des sables ... is a 6 day / 254km endurance race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco, normally taking place at the end of March / beginning of April .. also known as marathon of the sand .. the first event started in 1986 ..