History of Marathons

Okay first off I just wanted to let you guys know that I have been having a little confusion with where exactly to make new blogs and have been apparently making an entire new blog each week on my research topic of running.  Thanks to Brandon though, he showed me that all you need to do is simply click new post, so if you are wondering where my other blogs are they are just under my main page with all my blogs, but if you are unable to reach them just contact me for their URLs.

Anyway this week I have chosen to look up information about the history of running marathons.  I was just curious as to how long ago the first marathon took place and thought why not research that topic this week.  Also I would love to and plan to run marathons in the near future, so why not get some background information on the beginnging of them first.

 

Athens, Greece was officially the first place to hold the first known marathon.  It was also the same path that was later used in the 2004 Olympics games in Greece.  Now isn't that cool!  The running event, better known as the marathon recieved it's name from the name of the city Marathon, Greece, when the soldier Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to pass on the new of victory from a battle they won against the Persians.  After the run though Pheidippiddes sadly passed away. (How sad, he had worked so hard to deliver an important message, than to drop dead after it all, atleast he founded the marathon!)  He had run 24.85 miles, but a marathon today consists of 26.2 miles, which was the official distance since the 1924 Olympics and on.  The extra mileage was added to the distance of a marathon apparently because in the 1908 Olympics the course ran from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium and they wanted the marathon to end right in front of "royal family's viewing box" (Athens Marathon).  (Talk about high maintenance to the royalty...)  That is apparently where the phrase "God Save the Queen!" came from when runners shout that passing the 24th mile.



The first actualy Olympics in Greece took place in 1896 finishing with the marathon as the last marvel.  There were only 25 runners competing in the race and of those 25 only nine finished the marathon, eight of them being homeland Greeks.  The first to finish was a hometown hero to the Greeks, finishing in two hours and 58 minutes (this was with the 24.85 mile distance).  Now a days athletes are completing the 26.2 mile race in much faster times, for women the fastest time to date is tho hours and fifteen minutes, which was reached in 2003 and for men the fastest time is two hours and three minutes, which was completed in 2008.  These are some amazing times and I predict they will soon be beat in the near future.

I just thought all of this to be quite fascinating, and I am learning quite a bit more about running than I had expected.  I will continue to look for appealing topics on running. Something a little more interesting like my first one on barefoot running!



http://www.athensmarathon.com/marathon/history.html

http://www.marathonguide.com/history/records/alltimelist.cfm?Gen=F&Sort=Time

http://www.marathonguide.com/history/records/alltimelist.cfm?Gen=M&Sort=Time

http://www.lakepowell.net/marathon.html

Benefits of Running!

Okay so since I love to run I have another article about running, but this time as you can see it's on the benefits of running.

Running as most know gives you an over all better well being.  It's has been known to improve one's over all cardiovascular health and just one's health in general.  Most runner's tend to have a healthy body weight that they are able to maintain if they choose to continue to run.  It has been proven that running actually slows down the aging process, which means looking younger for longer woooo!  This process is accomplished by the bones and muscles in our bodies NOT losing their density as quickly as they would if one didn't run. This also is very beneficial to the bones by preventing osteoporsis, which is a disease that is caused from the loss of bone density due to lack of calcium.  Runners ability to steer clear from these density loss diseases are due to the fact that they continuously encounter powerful impacts which sounds painful, but really strengthens the joints and helps their bodies.  Positive moods are correlated with running too.  People who run on a regular basis feel happier and less stressed. They are able to stay more focused on their tasks at hand which leads to more productivity in their life.  Another positive mood effect that comes from running and that many have heard about is "the runner's high".  This "high" is due to positive mood releasing endorphins coming out during the run. It doesn't instantly happen, so don't expect to go out on a run and all of the sudden feel amazing, you have to run for awhile.  When runner's experience this "sensation" it gives them that great feeling of accomlishment and may even encourage them to run farther than they plan. 

If you aren't a very athletic person, give running a try.  Many dread even the thought of going on a run, but you can go at any pace you prefer and who knows, once you give it a go you may start to see a positive change in your over well being and experience some of the above positive impacts, so go out and get active!