Marathon

Why would anybody in their right mind want to run a marathon? A 26.2 mile odyssey over hill and dale enduring self-imposed physical torture of feet hitting unforgiving pavement every 3 feet. Running marathons are so tough that some pay the ultimate price. Don't believe me? Just look what happened to Pheidippides.

You know ole "Phei"? He was the Greek messenger who allegedly ran from the battlefields of Marathon to Athens in 490BC to proclaim the good news to his Greek king that Darius I of Persia (yes, you Leonidas of Sparta "300" freaks, that is Xerxes father, see postcript below) was defeated by the out-numbered Athenians at the Battle of Marathon. His reward for that run, which just happened to be in the 26mile range, was death. Seems that after 26 miles on hardpan, his lithesome naked body collapsed and he died after delivering the great news...sneakerless.

This past Monday, the City of Boston celebrated it's own eponymous 114th marathon. The Boston Marathon.

Boston is the world's oldest annual marathon and the world's best known road race. Started in 1897 a year after the marathon's inaugural Olympic event in 1896. From afar, Boston heard of how much "fun" the runners had running around the Greek countryside. So a group of Bostonians got together and said, "hmmmm, let's have one of those here." OK.

In April 1897, Irishman, John McDermott, won Boston's first marathon. He was one of 15 runners of which 10 finished. His time was 2 hours and 55 minutes. Supposedly, he subscribed to the run/walk strategy popular in those times.

In April 2010 in perfect running conditions, a Kenyan (no suprise there), Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the men's title in 2:05:02 that shattered the course record by 82 seconds. In the women's section, Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia won the women's title in 2:26:11. For his two hours of work, Robert earned $25k for setting the course record, $150k for winning the race and a golden olive wreath. Heh, Robert what are you going to do with all that money? Going to Disneyland? Robert replied, "I'm going to buy some cows." Huh?

So why does anybody run a marathon? Well, one ran to deliver the news to his King since cell phones weren't around then. The other ran to earn money to buy cows. On Monday in Boston, I'm sure there were 30,000 different reasons for running it. It seems it's a very personal singular decision to run.

Speaking of personal, I'll be running my first full marathon, the 25th Big Sur Marathon, this coming Sunday. Am I crazy? If so, I'll be at home with alot of other crazies. I'll let you know later why I ran it...that is, if I survive it.

So on Sunday, if you're so inclined, say an Ave that all of us runners out there on the Big Sur Coast finish what we started.

Cheers.


Postscript only for those who are movie fans of "300":
So, from the revisionist history department, if the Athenians didn't defeat the Persians at Marathon in 490BC, we never would have the story of Pheidippides, Herodotus's recantation of that story, the word marathon as a universal road race term and Leonidas's heroic defeat at Thermopylae to Xerxes in 480BC. Persians Darius I and Xerxes I would have ruled the Greek empire, "300" would never have been an epic movie and we would have never have read the stirring words from King Leonidas to his band of 300 Spartans, "the Persian arrows will be so numerous that they will block out the sun, so much the better...then we shall fight our battle in the shade." Haroo!