The running community has a great love of the sport of running and nothing gets a runner more excited than talking about it.
Why is a marathon so intriguing? What makes it attractive to runners?
It is probably a little mix of everything, from the history and training to the distance.
Let's go over some more things about running a marathon and what you need to do to prepared.
Marathon History
It is a good idea to learn a little about the history of the marathon, even though it is not something that is necessary to run a marathon, it will help you to understand it better.
The Athenians and Persians were fighting a battle near Athens in 490 B.C. This area is known as Marathon.
The Athenians send a message from this region to Sparta to ask for help. The messenger managed to go the long distance in under two days.
Although the naming was derived from this story, this is not what gave the marathon its current distance of 26.2 miles.
That is not true too, the marathon distance was established a lot later.
It take real commitment to run a marathon. With a distance of 26.2 miles it is a little more than what would be considered a healthy distance to run.
If you want to actually finish the race then you have to get serious about your training. That means running long distances with many training runs going 20 miles or more.
You have to go into training for a marathon with your whole heart in it. You have to go all the way with this type of training.
In order to have the best chance at success you need a solid training program and plenty of great tips to help you out.
Energy is going to play a very important part in being able to run those long distances. You need to look at some marathon training nutrition tips to help you make sure you meet your energy needs.
Books About Marathons
100 Day Marathon Plan by Marius Bakken is a great marathon training book, one of the best. Bakken has been in the Olympic Games two times and has also been a marathon coach.
As a coach he has helped people reach personal marathon records using the training techniques that he learned when working with world class runners in Italy and Kenya.
What works for the world's top runner can also work for you. His approach to marathon training is quite a bit different from what is conventionally used.
I can highly recommend this book. Use Marius' training plans to run your first or your fastest marathon.
If you are like many runners then you may end deciding if you are going to run a marathon then it will one of the top three. Large marathons have advantages.
They draw crowds that cheer you on and help keep you going to the end. They are well organized and often feature side-events.
Don't overlook smaller races, though. These can be worth your time, too. A small local marathon with a good reputation can be a great choice.
Look for one that takes care of runners and that has good facilities. It can be much nicer to run with a small group of runners versus getting lost in a big crowd.
When there is a large crowd of runners you may not even be able to start off by running. It will be so crowded that you may end up walking for the first part of the race.
You also have to watch out for all the other runners. A smaller race gives you space so you can focus on your race and not other runners.
You get the chance to really enjoy the experience. Still, doing one of the top races can be an amazing experience and something you will likely want to do at some point.
I hope you got some nice information that you can use for your marathon preparation through reading this.
It's got a good selection of marathon running tips that will help get you over the finish line.
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