I have always been intrigued by figuring out why things are the way they are. Hence my fascination with history especially when it pertains to one of my hobbies. I have read about every book on mountaineering and climbing history and over the last few years, I have been reading some books on running.

When did the marathon start and why is it 26.2 miles? Seems like an odd distance. A combination of an even/round American distance of 20 miles and the metric system (10 kilometers).

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the story of Pheidippides, the Greek soldier, who ran from Marathon to Athens to inform the Greeks of their victory over the Persians in 490B.C. If you weren’t familiar, you are now. What did Pheidippides say before collapsing? I have seen multiple quotes depending on what you read. “Rejoice! We are victorious.” (Switzer, 2006, p. 24) “Victory!”  (http://www.athensmarathon.com/marathon/history.html  ) Apparently the more popular saying, “Rejoice, we conquer” comes from a Robert Browning poem called Pheidippides. (Switzer, 2006, p.27) The actual distance he ran is up for speculation as well, but the general accepted distance is 40km or 24.85 miles between the bridge at Marathon and Athens stadium.

So where did 26.2 miles come from. You can thank England for that and eventually the IAAF with standardizing the distance later on. Essentially the 1908 Olympic games in London is where the 26.2-mile distance was born. They changed the course start and finish line. They moved the start line to Winsor castle so royalty could observe the start and they also pushed by the finish line another 385yds (0.2 miles) to finish in front of the Royal Box where King Edward the VII would be sitting. This latter part is very interesting from my readings.

Apparently the US and Swedish flags were not flown during the opening ceremonies. The Swedish athletes revolted by leaving the ceremonies. The US retaliated by not dipping Old Glory when passing the Royal Box. One source mentions shot putter Ralphe Rose committed the offense and another claims Discus thrower Martin Sheridan was the offender. Anyway as you can imagine the Brits took it personally and moved the finish line in front of the Royal Box to restore its supremacy.

Interestingly enough the leader of the race, Italian Pietri, collapse upon entering the stadium and had to be helped across the finish line. American runner Hayes finished second but would assume the Gold medal after Pietri’s disqualification.

The IAAF officially changed the marathon distance from 40km to 26.2 in 1921. You may hear someone mutter something sarcastic about the Queen or Britain in general around mile 24 or 25, so now you know what they are complaining about.

Push back to 1906 when Rome was originally slated to host the 1908 Olympics. That pesky volcano, Mt Vesuvius erupted which caused the switch to occur. Could things be different now if the volcano never erupted? Or the American was displayed at the opening ceremonies? Questions to ponder on your next 26.2 mile adventure.

I thought the story was interesting enough to share. Like I mentioned, there are some conflicting accounts out there, so if you know something different please share.

Share some other sources if you have them. I found a bunch of varying stories when it came to the history of the marathon. Sorry for the history lesson, but what else am I going to do stuck in the apartment during the blizzard.

If you have time to burn or you are just curious, check out these sources or everyone’s beloved Wikipedia.

Switzer, Katherine and Robinson, Roger. (2006). 26.2 Marathon Stories. Toronto, Ontario, Canada:          Madison Press Books

History of the Original Marathon. http://www.athensmarathon.com/marathon/history.html

We started up some speed work sessions on Tuesday evenings at Sioux Park around 5:30. The HS track teams have practice out on the track, so I resorted to time intervals and fartlek runs on the bike path. Come out and join in the fun if you get a chance.

I know it was probably mentioned in a previous blog, but in order to run faster you need to run faster. The daily regular-paced run just doesn’t help you improve your times whether you’re training for a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon or Marathon. I can attest. I steadily improved my marathon times up to about two years ago when I leveled out and actually slowed a little. Of course I was training for some tough marathons and ultramarathons, so my focus wasn’t about time – it was about finishing. Now that I have done several marathons and a few ultras, I can bring my focus to speed.

It takes some adjustment though because I am accustomed to running long and an average pace. I have established that I can run a marathon and even survive 50 miles, so I’m not concerned as much with long runs or weekly mileage. I changed my tone earlier this year when I felt an injury coming on, so I cut my running to 2-3 times per week instead of 5-6 times. Now that the injury abated, I am sticking with the 2-3 times per week but increasing the intensity. I add in other cross training activities on the other days like cycling, swimming, weight training and yoga. So I get in about 10-14 workouts per week.

As a longtime runner, I fell in the trap that if I wasn’t running, I couldn’t possibly improve my times. I’m finding that is far from the truth. My busy work schedule doesn’t always allow me to break away for a run of substantial length, so I shorten the run and increase the intensity. I’m sure there are plenty of people in the same situation where work appears to hold you back a little, but I’m here to tell you that you can make adjustments to find something that works. Running is very personalized. “One size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to finding a training program that works for you. The trick is to find something and stick with it and make adjustments as necessary so you don’t plateau. There is a lot of information out there about training.

First-time marathoners still need to focus on the long run, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to do speedwork. Just make your goal finishing with no time attached to that goal.

If you get a chance, come out and join us. I’ll try to mix the workouts up a little whether they are on the track if there is room or on the bike path. I personally like the bike path because I don’t run marathons around a track, so I’d rather train like a race from one point to the next.

RRCM is in its second year and is good race to go to. I’m not much for big races. The two biggest races I have done are Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon and Omaha Marathon. RRCM had close to eighty participants in its inaugural year and I’m guessing they had about 120-130 people this year. Of course I’m not counting half-marathoners which typically out-number marathoners by 3-4 times.

I flew down to Vegas on Friday afternoon, picked up my rental and drove out to pick up my race packet at the REI store. I got to REI at 4pm and there was a sign that pickup didn’t begin until 5pm (I must have missed that on the website/email). No big deal because I grabbed a meal nearby and then picked up my packet and proceeded to head into the belly of the beast – the Vegas strip to check into my room. The race started on Saturday morning at 6am so I left the hotel before 4am to catch the bus to the starting line. I was carrying my bag out to the car and my drop bag ripped, so I had to pack all my warm clothes in my pack before the race. Oh, I forgot my IPod too, so I had run the entire race without music which wasn’t bad - you should try it.

The starting area was chilly. The temperature was tolerable, but there was an incessant breeze with the sole mission to bring our core temperatures down. The first five miles were spent trying to warm my body back up. The course was very scenic but tough. The first 8 or 9 miles was uphill and then down to mile 13 where we made two short loops before heading back. Going in reverse hurt. The hill was tougher in the opposite direction and I’m not saying that based on already running 13-14 miles. I’ve run enough hills to know when they are tough. Unfortunately that made the last 8-9 miles hard too because my legs were shot – it doesn’t matter that it was downhill.

Did I mention that this was going to be my 13^th marathon overall in my eighth different state. As runners, we can’t help but having a proclivity towards superstation, and it was a little disconcerting that this was lucky number 13. Superstition aside, I finished upright. Time was 4:23 with 3^rd in my age group which was good considering the course. I heard people talking that the course adds on about an hour to your fastest marathon which seems about right (for me at least).

Now that I got past lucky number 13, I can breathe easier. Traveling around doing the marathon tourism thing is fun.