Why the marathon is 42. The standard and marathon running records
How many miles do you need to run to finish a marathon? The marathon distance, the cherished 42 km 195 m (26 miles 385 yards), can rightly be called the "queen" in endurance sports. Every year the popularity of marathon running is only growing, because overcoming such a distance seems to beginners a test, a test of strength, overcoming oneself, and the marathon has long gone beyond the boundaries of a purely single discipline athletics.
Judge for yourself, do track and field competitions gather a lot of participants, say, at a distance of 800 or 3000 meters? Now compare: in 2018, 52,813 people finished the New York City Marathon! However, the marathon remains an Olympic discipline, and the records set at this distance cause wide discussion.
Why is the marathon distance 42.195 km?
This question is often asked by people, noticing the next announcements or news about the marathon, but not keen on marathon running. The answer lies in the ancient Greek legend, which tells about the confrontation between the Greeks and Persians in 490 BC. e. And Marathon is a city located about 42 km from the capital of Greece, Athens, next to which the battle took place, which became victorious for the Greeks.
The warrior Pheidippides was sent to the capital to announce the victory of the Greeks in the war. Exhausted, he ran 42 km non-stop and, having reached Athens, he only had time to shout: “Rejoice, Athenians, we won!”, after which he fell dead. Currently, more than 5,000 athletes run this route and become finishers of the Athens Classic Marathon, one of the toughest on the highway.
Note that in 1896, when in Athens at the First Olympic Games of our time for the first time in history modern sports Marathon competitions took place, the International Olympic Committee measured the length of the distance from the battlefield to Athens, and it turned out to be 34.5 km (according to some sources - 40 km). It was this distance that was approved at those games. The winner, Greek water carrier Spyridon Louis, ran in 2:58:50.
The well-known 42 km 195 m were officially established in 1921. It is interesting that the runners owe the creation of such a distance to the British royal family: at the 1908 Olympics, the starting gates were specially moved so that they could comfortably watch the competitions from the windows of Windsor Castle.
How marathon running went beyond the limits of an Olympic discipline
Marathon running has gained wide popularity and it is not surprising that in modern times the marathon is not only the classic 42.195 km on the highway. Sports organizations compete with each other to surprise runners even more, arranging marathons in the deserts, in the ice of Antarctica, along the Great Wall of China and even at the Everest base camp.
The marathon itself, over time, acquired “brothers” that are no less popular: half marathon 21 km 97.5 m, ultramarathon or ultramarathon, quarter-marathon 10.55 km, triathlon, the last stage of which consists of running a marathon distance.
To date, the most famous marathons that have focused the main attention of the running public are the Big Six marathons or majors -. This prestigious series includes the Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York marathons. Due to the large number of people wishing to join the world event, the organizers of some "majors" are forced to allow participants to start through a lottery or qualifying standards. Prize fund impressive in prestigious and mass races, and therefore they become a battle track the fastest people planets and a field for mind-boggling records.
photo: Getty Images Records in marathon running: how long does it take modern runners to run a marathon?
The goal of most amateurs is to trade 4 hours in a marathon. The average time to cover the distance goes beyond these 4 hours: for example, for men it is at least 4 hours 15 minutes, and for women - 4 hours 40 minutes.
A mecca for record holders is the Berlin marathon course, which is known for its lack of terrain and the season with comfortable temperatures (the first Sunday in November). Elite athletes usually run after pacemakers - runners who set the pace of movement.
The men's world record of 2:01:39 was set in Berlin on September 16, 2018. Its author is 34-year-old Kenyan runner. Before him, another Kenyan Dennis Kimmeto ran the distance on the same track in 2:02:57. His record stood for 4 years. In general, Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate the marathon and half marathon: they own an impressive part of the records.
If you look at the women's statistics, for women the Berlin Marathon track is not conducive to records. The five fastest results were shown at the London and Dubai Marathons. For a long time, since 2003, the record holder is a European athlete - Briton Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25). The closest result belongs to the Kenyan athlete Mary Keitani (2:17:01).
Surely, those who are interested have heard that Eliud Kipchoge did not have enough 25 seconds to overcome the two-hour barrier. Indeed, on May 6, 2017, as part of the Breaking2 project from Nike, Kipchoge ran a marathon distance in 2 hours and 25 seconds, but this result was not ratified as a record, because the race did not meet the standards International Association athletics federations.
Ready to run your first marathon? Then it's time to start preparing! Perhaps, over time, you will even be able to complete. If your running experience is short, then the main rule for you is to take your time and start small, training systematically. To avoid injury and general discomfort on the course, plan your first marathon start no earlier than after a year of running.
The distance of the marathon race at the first modern Olympic Games was approximately forty kilometers. The current length of this discipline of forty-two kilometers one hundred ninety-five meters was established only in the year 1908 at the Olympics, held in the capital of the British Empire - London. The distance was increased so that the marathon runners participating in the race had the honor to approach the residence of the English royal family - Windsor Castle. After London, the length of the race changed several times, until in 1924 a decision was made to set the length of the race equal to the "British" marathon, which is still official today.
The modern record in running a marathon distance belongs to an athlete from Kenya, Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich. This athlete completed this route in a time of two hours, three minutes and twenty-three seconds. The African demonstrated his outstanding performance in 2013 at the annual Berlin Marathon. But already in 2014, Dennis Kimetto at the same marathon improved his figure to 2:02:57.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_world_records_in_marathon
However, earlier in 2011, another Kenyan runner, Geoffrey Mutai, clocked two hours, three minutes and two seconds at the famous Boston Marathon. But, as it turned out, the route that runs in this American city does not meet the requirements of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) due to the presence of several unacceptable elevation changes.
Among women, the holder of the world record in marathon running is the representative of Great Britain Paula Radcliffe (Paula Jane Radcliffe). She owns the achievement, which she demonstrated in 2003 at the home marathon in London. Its result is two hours fifteen minutes twenty five seconds.
In the history of the modern marathon, there are achievements that are impossible to believe, let alone repeat:
Stefan Engels ran a marathon every day for three hundred and sixty-five days, that is, a whole year in a row! It is not for nothing that this athlete is called the "Marathon Man" with a capital letter all over the world.
At the London Marathon in 2002, a kind of “anti-record” was set: an athlete from Britain, Lloyd Scott, overcame the marathon distance in five days. This is not at all surprising, given the fact that the athlete was dressed in ... an old diving suit that weighs as much as fifty-five kilograms! And nine years later, he also broke his own “anti-record” by dressing in a gigantic duck costume. The time for which Scott covered over forty-two kilometers of distance is twenty-six long days. With his "performances" Lloyd regularly raises hundreds of thousands of pounds for various charitable causes.
Absolutely fantastic record in the universe of marathon running belongs to an amateur runner, Australian farmer Albert Young, nicknamed "Cliff", which means "rock" (Albert Ernest Clifford "Cliff" Young). Just think, this man in just five days, fifteen hours and four minutes of the so-called "super marathon" managed to run a full eight hundred and seventy-five kilometers, although he participated in such a race for the first time. Despite the fact that at the beginning of the journey, the Australian lagged behind his more eminent rivals by a decent distance, he managed to overtake everyone, and all thanks to the fact that he practically did not sleep for all five days! According to him, he developed the habit of doing without sleep thanks to his professional activities - on the farm he had to search for his lost sheep for days on end.
Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila Abebe Bikila became famous for running a marathon barefoot.
Before the start of the first Olympic Games In modern times, the French philologist Michel Breal proposed to include a race along the route of the Phidippides warrior in the competition program. This idea was supported by the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
April 10, 1896 at the Games in Athens, athletes ran the first olympic marathon. To the great joy of the Greek fans, the winner was their compatriot - Spiridon Louis, who covered the distance in 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds. Since then, the marathon has been invariably included in the program of the Olympics.
Interestingly, in the first tournaments, the length of the distance did not have strict restrictions. It was calculated that the approximate distance from Marathon to Athens is 40 kilometers. At the 1896 Olympics, athletes ran exactly 40, and at next Games 1900 in Paris is already 40 kilometers 260 meters. In 1904 St. Louis was again exactly 40.
In 1908 the Olympic Games were held in London. The marathon runners started in front of the windows of Windsor Castle, from where they were watched by royal family. And the finish line was at the White City stadium, where the second half of the royal family was waiting for the end of the race. It turned out that the athletes ran 26 miles and 385 yards or 42 kilometers 195 meters. American runner D. Hayes became the winner with the result of 2 hours 55 minutes 18 seconds.
However, this length of the marathon race was not immediately recognized. At the next two Olympics, it differed significantly. In 1912, athletes ran 40 kilometers 200 meters in Stockholm, and even 42 kilometers 750 meters at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
Such a spread did not suit the International Olympic Committee and the Athletics Federation. It was decided to fix the exact length of the marathon distance. Now it is difficult to say why exactly the distance of the marathon race in London was taken as the standard, but starting from the 1924 Olympic Games, marathon runners run the standard distance - 42 kilometers 195 meters.
Kenyan Dennis Kimetto is currently the world record holder in the marathon. On September 28, 2014, he ran the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours 2 minutes and 57 seconds. As you can see, the strongest marathon runners run at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour!
About 800 marathon races are held annually in many countries of the world. For runners, it is considered an honor to simply take part in such a prestigious start along with leading athletes, joining the world track and field athletics movement. However, some prestigious marathons are forced to hold a lottery among the candidates due to the inability to accept everyone (the New York and Berlin marathons) or introduce qualifying standards for participants (the Boston Marathon).
Jogging in the morning is extremely useful, although not everyone has enough desire and willpower to exercise regularly. Even those people who are far from sports hobbies know that the marathon distance is somewhere around 40 km, a little more.
In fact, the length of the marathon distance is exactly 42,195 meters, which is surprising. Why not 42, not 43 km? Why it was impossible to stop at a beautiful, even number? To understand this issue in detail, it is necessary to look into history.
Where does the marathon start from?
According to history, in 490 BC, the battle of Marathon took place, in which the Greeks won. And a messenger was sent to Athens, who ran more than 30 km at the limit of his speed only to tell people this good news. The hero's name was Pheidippides, and having made this run, he shouted out the words that entered into the legend with the last of his strength, urging the Athenians to rejoice in victory. According to legend, after that he fell dead.
Of course, modern athletes finish the run with a more positive outcome, although they also run at the limit of their strength, hoping to break the record and get into history, to get a prize. Most likely, the ancient Greek hero fell due to the fact that he laid out first on the battlefield, and then took on the burden of a messenger. History is silent on this. But the distance from Marathon to Athens has become memorable, which is why it is called the marathon.
Modern Olympics
Ever since the Olympics began to be revived in 1896 as sports holidays, the marathon distance was remembered again. But they decided to change the path, laying it along another road, longer - this time it was about 40 km.
When it came to the fourth Olympics, which was held in Great Britain in 1908, the distance for marathon athletes changed again, amounting to exactly 26 miles. In terms of more familiar units of measurement of space, this path is 41,843 meters. The race was held near Windsor Castle, the distance ended with the Great Stadium.
Interesting fact: initially it was thought that the athletes would stop near the box, but then they decided to add another 352 meters to the initial distance. This was a major milestone in the formation of the modern distance.
The English track was taken as a model, and by 1921 the Athletics Federation had made the final decision about the length of the course. Since history has not preserved the exact mileage of the first marathon runner, it was decided to require athletes to run a distance of 42,195 meters.
First marathon races
Until this norm was taken for Golden Rule, marathon distances varied from one Olympics to another - however, the difference between the distances was not very significant. So, in 1896 in Athens they ran exactly 40 thousand meters, and in Paris in 1900, athletes had to overcome 260 meters more. In 1904, the Olympics were held in St. Louis, where they ran at 39,996 meters, and only then the London Olympics of 1908 took place, within the framework of which the norm of 42,195 meters was formed.
However, after this incident, two more Olympics with “floating” distances took place, because the norm was approved a little later. In 1912, the athletes gathered in Stockholm, where they had to overcome 40,200 meters, and then, in 1918, a sports event was held in Antwerp, with a distance of 42,750 meters.
Jogging for record holders and for ordinary athletes
Curious people would be interested to know how long it takes to overcome this distance. On this moment the world record is held by Dennis Kimetto, a native of Kenya. The record was set on September 28, 2014 - the athlete was able to overcome the distance in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 57 seconds. Having made the simplest calculations, one can understand that he developed a speed of over 20 kilometers per hour.
The marathon distance is by no means only for professionals in the world of sports. It is available to everyone, such competitions are held in most countries several times a year. At the races, amateurs of all ages are welcome, there is an opportunity to compete with professional athletes, to prove themselves. But not all marathons are publicly available - the most prestigious of them gather so many potential participants that you have to arrange a lottery, raffle free places between those who wish.
Thus, the marathon is 42,195 meters, because it happened historically. And not because the ancient Greek messenger ran so much, but for the simple reason that the English marathon, which has become a classic, generally recognized, has taken root in sports, and it was just such a distance.
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After the half, every day there was a struggle in me: to run a marathon on September 20 or postpone it until spring. More often than not, I leaned towards running in the spring. I read recommendations that for a marathon you need 80-90 km of a weekly foray, and this is 320 km per month. I have been running regularly since spring, May - 83.82 km, June - 114.22 km, July - 125.3 km, August - 193.4 km. On August 30, I ran a long 30 km workout in 03:03:47, at a pace of 06:07 min/km and decided to still run a marathon this year. Signed up for Siberian International Marathon in Omsk. On September 9, I ended up in Moscow, went to the Clinic sports medicine and determined his anaerobic threshold. I ran on the track in a mask with wires, my PANO turned out to be 161. A week before the marathon, I decided to do a glycogen load. From Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon, I practically did not eat carbohydrates. Ate cottage cheese, chicken breast, fish. I lost 2 kg in 2 days. From Wednesday afternoon he began to lean on pasta, grapes, and drank pomegranate juice. On Wednesday I gained 500 grams of weight, on Thursday another 500 grams, on Friday and Saturday I did not weigh myself. In the sports dispensary, when receiving a certificate, the doctors asked what prompted me to run at that age, I answered: five years ago, at karate competitions, there were the same questions. On September 18, we left Tyumen by car with my family for Omsk (distance 600 km), spent the night in Ishim with my parents, and on September 19 I went to Omsk alone. I was in Omsk for lunch. I received a starter pack, ate pasta, the jitters were very strong, the marathon did not go out of my head.
I went to the cinema to unload my head a little, the film was incomprehensible, I left from the middle of the film. I checked into a hotel, it was very cold in the room, left my things and went back to eat pasta. After that, I went to the starting point, looked where I could park in the morning. In the evening I went to bed early, around 22:00, fell asleep with difficulty, but woke up at one in the morning, no sleep. I read a book and fell asleep again. In the morning I woke up without an alarm clock at 5 am, the start of the marathon at 10 am. I brewed oatmeal with raisins and dates from the cooler with boiling water, brought it with me so that there would be no surprise at breakfast in the restaurant. In an hour and fifteen minutes I went to the launch site, drove a couple from Novosibirsk from the hotel. At 9 already parked and went to see what was happening there. There were many teams, in suits from different enterprises, there was a movement, everyone was getting ready. About thirty minutes later he returned to the car, took off his jacket, drank BCAAs, L-carnitine. I took bananas, BCAAs and a windbreaker with me to hand over to the storage room next to the start, eat it after the finish, before reaching the car. At the last moment, I decided to take an iPhone with me, stuffed it into my waist bag along with the gels, and here it is a surprise - the lock broke. There was still a margin of time, I spent about 10 minutes with the lock and ran to the start, I still had to go to the toilet and put things in the storage room. I went to the storage room, which was indicated on the map as a camera for those who run 42.195 km, but from there they sent me in the other direction. I handed over my things and began to make my way through the crowd to the start. There were many children, representatives of enterprises in branded T-shirts. I began to look for pacemakers, found no one, announced the start and we ran. I ran calmly, controlled my pulse, the plans were to run the first half at a pulse of 150. We climbed the bridge, then went down the bridge in figure eight and then I saw the finish line.
Until the last moment, I had no anxiety, my analytical abilities just turned off. I did not even notice that there was not a single person with blue numbers nearby. At the finish line, I made my way through the crowd, ran further along the marked track, I ran and realized that I was alone, I thought that somewhere I missed a turn at 42.195 km. He turned around and ran in the opposite direction to the bridge, against the flow. I began to ask where they run 42 km? And I was told that they did not seem to run across the bridge at all, but ran away to the oil workers' area. One of the volunteers showed the direction and I ran. At that time, there was already a panic in my head, my pulse was on the scale of 165, I tried to calm down and realized that I couldn’t run at such a pulse. I saw a 1 km flag on the side of the road and realized that I was on the right track. It took me 45 minutes for all these searches. I ran out 45 minutes later than the main group, ran more than 6 km and was already quite nervous. This is how my first marathon started for me. Only at the second kilometer it dawned on me that there were two starting points at 6 km and at 42.195 km and I started in the wrong place. I did a lot of the right things in advance, but so stupid at the start at the last moment. I decided to run in any case to the finish line, calmed my pulse and calmly ran alone at a pulse of 150. The turn and the first group of volunteers was 4 km, they looked at me with great surprise. In my head there was one thought "stupid at the start." I tried my best to remove this thought, but it was really difficult, it sounded like a mantra. The most difficult thing was to look into the eyes of passers-by who supported, the support was very compassionate, they saw the last running marathon runner. I started eating gels from the fifth kilometer of the main distance, from my real eleventh. To remove these two counters from my head, I could only after the tenth kilometer and then I no longer remembered that I had run 6 km before the start. After the second gel, the lock on the purse broke again and fled with an open one. I had eight gels and one shot with guarana with me. At the thirteenth kilometer, an ambulance pulled up behind me and slowly accompanied me. Cheerful thoughts even began to come to me, I remembered films of how an ambulance accompanies the dying on a marathon. I run like in a movie, there is not enough motorcade of motorcyclists and video cameras. And in parallel, I controlled the pulse, ran at 155 and understood that if I add speed, then I won’t be able to run 48 km. At the fifteenth kilometer there was another surprise, the organizers drove up and said that I did not fit into the limit for 11 minutes, if I did not catch up, they would remove me. Limit 21 km in 3 hours. I increased my speed and ran close to anaerobic threshold or higher, 158-163 beats per minute. There was even excitement, there was a goal to run half to the limit, so that they would not be removed from the race. After the fifteenth kilometer, the volunteers had already turned off the water point, saw me and brought water from the car. At the seventeenth kilometer, I overtook the first grandmother, the ambulance remained to accompany her, it became a little easier for me psychologically. On the twentieth was a grandfather and a boy. And now I'm running fourth from the end. After half and understanding that they would not take off, I slightly lowered the pulse to 155-158. Psychologically, it was already easy, the panic was gone, periodically I overtook very tired runners and for some reason I was sure that I would run.
At the twenty-fifth kilometer, a group with a pacemaker ran towards me at 3:15, they had two kilometers to go to the finish line, and I was seventeen. Bananas and oranges appeared at food stations, the orange did not go, it got stuck in the teeth, after that I took only bananas. After the thirtieth kilometer I already overtook massively, many just walked. I thought, if only the “wall” didn’t come, I already have more than thirty-six kilometers. And the "wall" heard me and did not come. Glyco-loading proved to be effective and eight gels with me too. I ran very calmly, my legs began to ache, but everything was within the normal range. I already picked up the pace and ran on a pulse of 162-165.
At the point 38 km, the doctor, seeing my vigorous run, said: it feels like I have already run for the second round. I ran briskly alone, the rest really trudged along, all vigorously finished long ago.
I was not covered, I decided to drink guarana for 40 km. I drank guarana and found another gel, before that I thought that the gels were over. I ate the gel right away. Volunteers offered a bottle of water, although there was no food point, they miraculously appeared so that I would wash down the gel and guarana. At the finish line, he accelerated, smiled at the photographers, his pulse was 170.
Finished with a time of 04:52:34, this is from the start of the 6 km and subsequent wanderings in search of a real track. I was glad that I ran 48 km, I feel great, no injuries, only the nail turned black on thumb left leg.
Immediately after the finish, I drank BCAAs, ate a banana, got a massage, ate yogurt in the car.
I arrived at the hotel, washed myself, felt cheerful, satisfied, as after a good workout. The poet got into the car and calmly drove to Ishim. At 9 pm I was already soaring my legs in the bathhouse with my parents. Could things have been different? Of course it could.
- For the first marathon, it is better to take someone to support you. The jitters are very strong and the brain turns off. I don't think this will happen in the second marathon.
- Glycogen loading for a week helped me, there was no wall at all.
- I drank BCAA and L-carnitine before the half and the marathon, I don’t know what their role was in running, but I will definitely drink in the future.
- You don't have to do anything new before the start that you didn't plan in advance. It's about trying to stuff your phone in your purse along with the gels.
- Well, the marathon is not as scary as it is painted))
P.S. Special thanks
