Why Run Marathons
26.2 Miles Is a Long Hard Run What Motivates Runners?
Why would anyone voluntarily run a brutal 26.2 mile marathon race? Because it's hard and it's there.
Running a Marathon
26.2 miles is a long way. The runner's feet will slam into the hard road about 26,000 times each. All this pounding makes the runner's feet sore. It also hurts the ankles, legs, knees, hips, and so forth. A runner with an old knee, ankle, hip, or other injury will relive the familiar pain from the stress of a hard 26.2 mile run. At about 20 miles the body's store of glycogen fuel runs out. Runners whose bodies have not yet learned to burn fat will often hit the wall. They muster every last bit of whatever it is inside them to continue barely doing the survival shuffle. Then there is the hobbling around for several days after the race.
Why would any sane person even think of trying to run a marathon? Are marathoners even remotely sane?
Health Benefits
The health benefits of walking and running are well documented elsewhere. The extensive running over a long period of time that is required to train for marathons provides these benefits in abundance. It is however not necessary to actually run a marathon to receive these benefits. Some might actually argue that while training for a marathon provides many health benefits, actually running one is too hard on the body to be healthy. Many people will go out and jog a few miles for the health benefits, but few run marathons just for their health. The typical marathoner's motivation is much less tangible.
Because It's There
Explorer George Mallory, who died attempting to scale Mount Everest, once responded with: "Because it's there." when asked why he wanted to climb Everest. This answer simultaneously says everything and nothing. The person with the urge to explore and to see what lies beyond the next bend in the trail or the next mountain, understands this answer. That person would not ask the question because the answer is obvious. To the questioner, however Mallory's answer says nothing. Anyone who needs to ask this question does not feel the urge to explore and is incapable of understanding any answer.
"Why run marathons?" is a similar question. Some don't need to ask because the answer is already inside them. Those who need to ask might understand an answer about health or other tangible benefits, but they will never understand the real answer. It's there.
Because It's Hard
In the early 1960s President Kennedy set a national goal of landing a man on the Moon. He said that we choose to do this not because it is easy but because it is hard. One of Edmond Hillary's comments about finally scaling Everest was: "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."
We all need challenges and the sense of euphoria that comes from achieving a difficult personal goal. Most of us can never stand on the Moon or the summit of Everest.
Running a marathon is a difficult personal goal that ordinary people can achieve. We may not be able to conquer ourselves by climbing Everest, but we can conquer ourselves by completing a marathon.
Most people do not have the athletic skill or coordination to compete in the Olympics or other similar high level athletic event. However running a marathon is a significant athletic goal that non athletic people can reach. No particular skill or coordination is required. One just has to be persistent enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other. There are even wheelchair divisions for those with physical challenges. The distance itself is hard enough that we do not have to finish first to be successful. Simply finishing requires conquering ourselves.
Why run marathons? It's there, it's hard, yet an average person can do it.
It's time for my run.
