What is a Marathon? - All you need to know!
The Marathon, which has charmed athletes and fitness enthusiasts, has a rich history that dates back to ancient Greece. According to the myth, the origin of the Marathon can be traced to the Battle of Marathon, fought in 490 BCE, where a Greek soldier named Pheidippides was assigned with delivering news of the Greek victory against Athens, and he ran the entire distance from the battlefield to the city, approximately 25 miles, to deliver the message given to him as a task and died.
The incident-inspired modern-day Marathon is a life-changing event that symbolizes hard work, strong will, and dedication enlightening and building pride within every runner after completion. Almost every runner aims to one day stand up to the world and recall running in a Marathon.
I ran a Marathon.
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However, aiming for a Marathon is not as superficial as it might sound. More than a physical reason to run through an event so long and tiring, runners often dedicate it to someone or something dear to them. Likewise, the founder of Bhaago India, Arghya Saha, ran the TMM for his late Father and recalled it as an inspiration that kept him going throughout the race. Argo describes
All the times my body gave up, my legs went numb, and my brain said to stop, it was his smiling face that pulled me together and let me push further toward the finish line. This Marathon was for you, Baba!
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However, for an amateur runner, several misconceptions exist when Marathon is a topic of discussion. So. What is the distance of the Marathon? When would a runner be called a Marathoner? Let us discuss this in the section that follows!
Marathon and race distances
An official Marathon has an unchanged distance of 42.195 Kilo Metres (26.2 miles), to which a runner can run and be called a Marathoner. Any other race below the length of 42.195 Km is not considered a Marathon, and neither the runners who run them are considered marathoners.
Similarly, a Half Marathon has an unchanged distance of 21.0975 Kilo Metres (13.1 miles), to which a runner concludes but not be called a Marathoner. Runners often run Half Marathons and other smaller distances to prepare for the actual Marathon title!
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Now you might be wondering, what about races beyond 42.2 miles? To this, all the race events having higher distances than the standard Marathon are called Ultra Marathon. Unlike Marathon and Half Marathon, an Ultra Marathon has no defined length to vary from one event to another. After completing, runners can call themselves Ultra Marathon Runners or simply Ultra Runners.
So to achieve this prestigious title of a Marathoner, target an actual Marathon and avoid falling for misconceptions. Running a 15 km, 10 km, or 5 km race will just be called having run a 15k or 10k and not a Marathon.
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In Conclusion, Marathon is a sport that requires beyond physical effort and interconnects emotions to actions, the sheer will to passion, and hard work to dedication. So make a plan, wear your running shoes, and let's grow the amazing Marathon community.
Cause once a Marathoner, always a marathoner!
Edited by Faiz Alam
