The Marathon Thread

[falafel]

So, back in 1896, a bunch of people got together to plan out the Olympics. Some fellow called Michael Bréal presumably recounted the apocryphal story of an ancient Greek fellow who ran a rather long way to Athens in order to report on a battle victory and then had a heart attack and died. The fellow organisers, failing to see the warning implicit in the poor man's tragic death, evidently responded with something along the lines of "What now, that's a jolly thing if ever there was one. Let's do it!" - and thus the Marathon became an international athletics institution with the commencement of the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens.

In 1908, the fourth Olympics went to London, and everyone dressed up nice and smart to watch the chaps go by:



It really was a frightfully exciting affair. It also set what was to become the standard Marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards - the extra 385 yards being added, according to Wikipedia, because Queen Alexandra wanted to get a better view of the action and had the runners do a quick stint past the royal box at the end.

Fast forward 100 years, to The London Marathon. While internationally perhaps not as famous as New York, it's nonetheless the biggest charity fundraising event in the annual calendar, as well as an opportunity for your everyman to tune in and watch Paula Radcliffe doing her head-nodding thing and possibly going to the loo. And guess who's taking part? Muggins here, that's who.

This is my first marathon and, from the application process (which started in September if I remember rightly) to the present pant-wetting moment, the past few months seem to have shot by in altogether too speedy a fashion. I am also probably the only person ever to have gained half a stone whilst training for the event; surely a record. However, I'm also doing  New York this November so have sort of switched to seeing this one as a dry run, which makes me feel an awful lot more optimistic about the whole thing, especially as when I went to get some new trainers the in-store pysiotherapist actually had to supress a burst of nervous laughter when he saw the way my feet went on the treadmill. While I'm at it, though, it would be quite something to have a crack at this one as well:

The Man versus Horse Marathon is an annual marathon, with human and (mounted) equine contestants, which takes place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells.

The event started in 1980, when local landlord Gordon Green overheard a discussion between two men in his pub, the Neuadd Arms. One man suggested that over a significant distance across country, man was equal to any horse. Green decided that the challenge should be tested in full public view, and organised the first event.

What's most astonishing is the fact that people have actually beaten the horses on no less than two occasions!

As mentioned further up there, London is all about fundraising and my effort is no different. I'm raising for Yorkshire Cancer Research and Neil's given me the go ahead to plug my sponsorship site at http://www.justgiving.com/sammcginty (cheers Neil) - I'll just copy and paste the info from there:

To paraphrase the Fast Show: this year I shall mostly be running two marathons. They're the big ones too - to my mind at least - being, as they are, London, on the 13th of April, and New York, on the 2nd of November. I won't be running them dressed as a Duracell bunny, although of course I do hope to be able to summon the energy to go on, and on, and on... much as the following message will, in fact. No, running a marathon dressed as a rabbit would be stupid. And to do it twice, well... that would be beyond words.

Instead, I'm wearing a simple running shirt emblazoned with the Yorkshire Cancer Research logo. A stylish affair, you'll agree, and a much more sensible choice. Yorkshire Cancer Research supports important and groudbreaking research in a range of teaching hospitals and universities such as Sheffield and Leeds (of which I am a proud graduate) across the county. This research constitutes an essential contribution to an ever-growing global stockpile of information which is helping the world to better understand the disease.

Contrary to popular opinion, a little knowledge is a wonderful thing; please give as generously as you are able, and help YCR support these institutions. If you stretch yourself particularly beyond your means, I will give you chocolate.*

Thank you so much for your support.  Click the "Sponsor Us Now" link at the top and bottom of the page to pledge your money and pay safely and easily via credit/debit card. The payment goes straight to YCR, and if you're a UK taxpayer the government will add a gratis 28% to the amount through Gift Aid. Bonus!

To do a little research for yourself, you can visit www.ycr.org.uk

Sam

Update: 5/4/2008

A week and a day to go now, and it's really shot by. A little too quickly... At this point in the training, there's not much to do but keep up the short running and cross your fingers, which is what I'm doing. May thanks to everyone who's sponsored me up to this point; it's really great that you've all pulled your fingers out and chucked a bit of cash my way, and I do appreciate every penny, as I'm sure do YCR.

A club night is in the offing on the 28th of April to raise a bit more money for New York; and a podiatrist's appointment on the 15th to get my dodgy feet sorted out. Yes, I have dodgy feet and have been referred to an NHS podiatrist, and yes, the podiatrist's appointment is two days after the London Marathon. Very useful, don't you think? The fellow will no doubt take one look at the shattered remains of my lower limbs and immediately call for an amputation...

Here's to London, here's to Victory, and here's to a sub-four-hour time despite it all - and failling that, here's to insufferable calf crampage, plenty of beer and an unsavoury recovery meal at Burger King.

Over and out.

And now you know my real name and all. Dangerous games.

So, yeah. I don't want this to be a shameless plug/begging letter, I want your marathon stories, marathon questions, marathon rants, marathon ideas - anything at all really, just chuck it in this thread. If you want to slag off people in silly costumes, fine. If you're a runner yourself, if you know someone who's taking part, if you're heading down to watch. Oh, and if you do, please bring some jelly babies for me to snaffle on the way round, mmm.

If you want to bang on about Tibet and the Nazis and the Olympics, go for it.

Fingers crossed nothing like this happens this year. It's easy to forget that even though tens of thousands of people do this every year it's actually pretty risky and, I suspect, not something for which evolution has us particularly equipped. All in all, pretty exciting, and a massive and thrilling challenge to pretty much everyone involved.

Thoughts?

[Caroline]

Good luck! A friend of mine did the New York one last year, and the one in Rome a few weeks ago. It really is almost beyond my comprehension that pople can do this.

[Lady Beaner]

Well done and good luck to you falafel! I live on the marathon route, so will be popping outside at various times to watch the elite and mass runners. Please tell me that you are doing it in a comedy costume!

[drberbatov]

Good luck, what has your training schedule been like?

[petula dusty]

There is a local man, Dave Heeley, known as Blind Dave for obvious reasons who is attempting to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents and will run his final marathon in London on Sunday. He's doing it with his running partner and guide Malcolm Carr and it's to raise money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.  http://www.7mm.org.uk/ Only two other people, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Mike Stroud, have acheived this before.

Amazing.

Good luck for Sunday, falafel.

[chumfatty]

Good luck falafel, I did my very first Half Marathon last year and that was hard work having never been a runner before. I have every respect for anyone who can do twice what I did. I should have done another this year but I dislocated my knee and only just started running again after 6 months.

I would love to do a full one but I have a long long way to go (about 26 or so miles arrrrf!). The New York one should be something special, a friend of mine did it a few years ago and said the American crowds go absolutely mad for it.

Don't forget the Vaseline.

BTW what time you aiming for?

[simondykes]

Indeed,good luck with it falafel!
I used to enjoy watching the London Marathon every year when I was growing up in the Midlands - strangely,because I hate any kind of sport;I think I just liked seeing London on TV for three hours.In fact,I eventually moved to London several years ago,but whether the two are connected.....ah,no,not really.
I'm working on Sunday and I live south of the marathon route and work north of it,so I'm going to have fun getting in.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

I can barely run five kilometres without crippling myself, so a marathon seems inconceivable. Well done/good luck!

[falafel]

Cheers everyone for the encouragement. Am in london now and replying on the phone so will be brief in answering little questions... Was originally going for three and a half hours but after foot complications i'm playing it safe and looking at four plus - just looking to finish really.

Training has been a matter of four or five runs a week, with a long run on a sunday. Toward the end short runs were five to six miles and the long one should have got up to 18-20. Unfortunately got shinsplints a month or so ago and had to take a bit of time off. By the time i got back on track it was time to start tapering down so the longest i did was a half marathon distance. Hence taking it a bit easier as the last ten miles or so are going to be a bloody gruel! Right, off to register now, that's going to be fun - see y'all later.

[hpmons]

Id love to run a marathon one day, but Im even less fit than ETT, I cant even run one mile.  I stood up for ten minutes yesterday and felt quite worn out.

I do wish I was joking.

[ersatz all folks]

Some silly sods have uploaded their photos to the sky news site - after slightly modifying them.

http://yourphotos.sky.com/

[falafel]

Ah yeah, he was probably after me there.

Well i did it in 4h45 which i'm pretty happy about - will put details up about the experience as a whole when i get home tomorrow. I want to do it again next year!

[ThickAndCreamy]

Some silly sods have uploaded their photos to the sky news site - after slightly modifying them.

http://yourphotos.sky.com/

Lol. I saw Tron Guy in one of them and one has a man with Awoga badly photoshopped on their shirt.

[steve98]

My mate told me paulla Radcliffe was running for charity this year, dressed as a giant poo. But he was lying.

And does anyone know if the old guy- Buster- made it? He's 101 years old and been smoking since he was seven (and still smoking now!)

[falafel]

Argh! Now have incredibly painful tendonitis. However - I've signed up for next year anyway, through the online ballot which is still open. Simply because running past screaming crowds for nearly five hours kind of makes the whole thing feel a bit like an excessively sweaty 26-mile red carpet - very good for the ego. And the feeling at finish, for me at least, was incomparably fantastic. I was absolutely jubilant - probably just the brain doping itself into denial, but it was worth it for all that.

As for odballs - well, there was a girl on stilts, and I was overtaken by a beaver just before the last 385 yards (upon which I somehow managed to acquire enough energy to ignore the searing pain and pull off something approximating a sprint finish... by which I mean that both feet may have been off the floor at some point). Otherwise, well, we did see one of the Masai fellas collapsing in front of us, and then the rest of them came past while we waited for the loo.

Marathon toilets are the same as festival toilets, by the way, except they're also filled with countless empty squeezy bottles of Lucozade Sport.

Anyone else fancy signing up for next year? It's bloody brilliant, so it is - and if you harbour any aspirations of ever doing it you might as well apply. You can always defer a year, and then if you don't get in five times in a row you get automatic entry the next time... so you're just increasing your chances of getting in at some point by applying, really. Go on, you know you want to. It's the bollocks, it really is.

[actwithoutwords]

It's only a small thread, so I may as well bump it. I'm doing a half-marathon in the Connemara countryside on the 22nd of this month.



Very excited I must say, even if it is only a half. Just back from 12 miles at 8 minutes a mile on the dot. That was my last big run before Sunday week. Relief to know I've broken the back of the training. Thinking of doing a full one later in the year though, I'm slightly addicted at this point. Having got to this level of fitness, I should probably take advantage. Doing marathons seems like a fantastic way to visit cities too. You get to feel virtuous and get a holiday into the bargain.

Anyone doing the London marathon this year? Or any others for that matter?

[falafel]

Yep, me again. Not London though, Hamburg this year, which is on the same day.

An Oirish friend of mine tried to persuade me to do the Connemarathon but by the time I had a look it was all booked up so I shan't be accompanying you this year. Apparently it really is gorgeous around there though & I'm sure you'll love it. And I would definitely recommend keeping it up. I did New York in November and it was a completely unique and damned exciting way to see the city, running all across the five boroughs and with crowds that (almost) matched London for their enthusiasm. It's a good way to get easily-approved leave at work if such a thing is a worry, too, as you get to go in being all virtuous, especially if you're doing it for charity.

Keep it up, in short. Oh, and also people always bang on about how impressive it is that you've done it, which is quite satisfying, especially when you know deep down inside that 90% of people could probably pull it off anyway - in that it just suggests to me that quite a few things that seem really tough and unapproachable might be similarly doable if I just set my mind to it...

[Jemble Fred]

I still find it utterly mystifying that the human body is capable of running a marathon distance. It just seems impossible.

Humans are brillyunt.

[falafel]

I think the lady presenter drew the short straw on this year's annual Blue Peter "get the presenters to do something challenging" thing

ed for context: Marathons are bad enough, but that ^ is ridiculous. Haruki Murakami's 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is a great read on this - he runs every day, and has done at least one or two marathons a year for most of his adult life. There's a chapter about a Japanese ultramarathon he took part in - quoted here - which just makes me feel ill. How your body no longer feels yours, how you lose any sense of context (he talks about feeling as if he had never done anything but run for his entire life), how your mind is forced to shut down and be conscious only of movement. That's what I expect the moment before death to feel like.

[Ginyard]

Anyone else immediately think of a certain pre-snickers chocolate bar when they saw the thread title?.

[James "End-To-End" Benton]

If only we had tags, you could make that joke

[actwithoutwords]

I did New York in November and it was a completely unique and damned exciting way to see the city, running all across the five boroughs and with crowds that (almost) matched London for their enthusiasm. It's a good way to get easily-approved leave at work if such a thing is a worry, too, as you get to go in being all virtuous, especially if you're doing it for charity.

Nice. I'd love to do New York at some point. Thinking of possibly running Berlin later this year. Depends on where I'm going to be over the summer though. So did you win the ballot for both London and New York in the same year? Or are you a fundraising machine?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Given the age of the thread, I'm sure someone already did a Snickers tag.

It might even have been me.

[Johnny Yesno]

Anyone else immediately think of a certain pre-snickers chocolate bar when they saw the thread title?.

Yes, I did my first full Marathon in the 70s.

[actwithoutwords]

Ah, the glamour of casual distance running.


(Fantastic day though, very very tough, but really enjoyable.)

[CaledonianGonzo]

Didn't that Argentina shirt chafe your nipples?

[actwithoutwords]

Didn't that Argentina shirt chafe your nipples?

I have thus far been strangely immune from this nipple chafing phenomenon. I probably haven't done enough distance for it to be a problem. Not looking forward to it happening for the first time, apparently once you pop, you can't stop, as Comedy Dave says.

[falafel]

Well done that man.

Incidentally I now have a sizable scar on the small of my back from where the label on my running shorts raised a massive weeping blister during New York. Yargh.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

The fact that stuff like that happens if you run a marathon shows that you shouldn't be doing it.

[Borboski]

Why, why WHY ever run more than 5k in a straight line?  I just can't get my head around the point of it, HOURS of running!  Madness.

Lift weights like a real man.

Good luck.