marathon research

To make it to heaven and be greeted by 72 virgins.

mental illness

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

In article said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks,

Because it's so much easier than running 62.14, but more of a challenge than 9.321.
--
Robert Grumbine radix.net~bobgOpen ↗ Science faqs and amateur activities notes and links.
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much evidence and ease; this
great facility makes them less appreciated than they would be had they been presented in a more
abstruse manner." Two New Sciences

Globaldisc said:

Quoted message said:

Would you please tell me why someone would want to run 26.2 miles?

Because....

Quoted message said:

To make it to heaven and be greeted by 72 virgins.

Only 72? I was promised 144 but I'm twice your age and deserve the volume. 😉

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Yeah but at your age you couldn't even keep 36 satisfied.

;-)

"Doug Freese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Globaldisc said:

Quoted message said:

Would you please tell me why someone would want to run 26.2 miles?

Because....

Quoted message said:

To make it to heaven and be greeted by 72 virgins.

Only 72? I was promised 144 but I'm twice your age and deserve the volume. 😉

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Because it is there?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation

behind

Quoted message said:

running marathons. Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

TenKMan said:

Yeah but at your age you couldn't even keep 36 satisfied.

Valid point. What you lose in the hips you gain in the lips. 😉

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Because it is there.

I am sure you will find different reasons for each person that runs. Running a marathon (as
opposed to racing one) is a very personal thing. Every runner is running their own marathon
surrounded by thousands of others doing exactly the same thing.

For myself, well I guess it is several things. It is a goal; an
accomplishment; a social event; a test of myself and an accomplishment.

If I had to pick one I would say it is the test of myself that is most important to me. We all
have asked ourselves how we might act in a difficult situation. In the military a good part of
the training is to prove to each person that they can do more than they thought they could. The
same thing with a marathon. I know I can handle the more than I ever handle in my daily life. It
makes those "big" problems each day small.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

<[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation

behind

Quoted message said:

running marathons. Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

Doug Freese said:

Globaldisc said:

Quoted message said:

Would you please tell me why someone would want to run 26.2 miles?

Because....

Quoted message said:

To make it to heaven and be greeted by 72 virgins.

Only 72? I was promised 144 but I'm twice your age and deserve the volume. 😉

No no Doug, you've got it all wrong. You will BE a virgin when you
die. With that face it is ordained.

TenKMan said:

Yeah but at your age you couldn't even keep 36 satisfied.

BRAVO! Well said.

Doug Freese said:

TenKMan said:

Yeah but at your age you couldn't even keep 36 satisfied.

Valid point. What you lose in the hips you gain in the lips. 😉

Does Realbitchy benefit from your increased lip power?

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

We were dropped on our heads when we were babies.

Mike Tennent

marathon research

Group: rec.running Date: Wed, Nov 5, 2003, 3:55pm (EST-1) From: [email hidden] Hello all, I'm
doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons. Would
you please tell me why someone would want to run 26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt
........................................................... To go farther then the day before. Snip:
to run. gulp. not ready yet........... ........................................................ from
total gym to total outside,

For a lot of people the marathon is not the main goal. You find, after the initial couple months of
running pain, that it becomes fun and easy plus you progress rapidly the first couple years. Marks
fall by the wayside: the first continuous mile, the first continuous hour, 10 kilometers, 10 miles
... After you get that far then you start thinking about the big kazoo. However, there is a twist
there. The training commitment appraches 10 hours a week and gets harder to fit in. The body starts
rebelling after it runs out of sugar after 18-22 miles. So running doesnt become as easy as it used
to and more a challenge.

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks,

See Marc Bloom's piece published earlier this week in the New York Times:

nytimes.com02RUN.htmlOpen ↗

A Partial excerpt:

""I resent that the race is now dominated by what the French call poseurs," Behr said. "They want to
look like runners and get a medal but they're not running. It's the dumbing down of the marathon."

Behr said that the final straw for him occurred when participants carrying cameras stopped shortly
after the start on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to ask others to take their pictures. "Another guy
took out a cellphone to brag to someone about his race," Behr said. "And he hadn't even done a
mile yet."

On the other hand, Tim Murphy, the president of Elite Racing, extolled his events' open-arms
atmosphere. "What I hear most is that the people feel just as cool as the runner trying to break
three hours," he said. "It's all about finishing."

JoAnn Dahlkoetter, a sports psychologist in San Carlos, Calif., said that she had previously helped
obsessive marathoners learn to cope with pain so they could break three hours. "Now I see people
struggling with goals to get under seven hours. Some marathons have a cut-off time where they close
the course. These people want to make sure they don't feel like they're getting kicked out."

Dahlkoetter said that, in a startling shift, most newcomers made the marathon their first race.
"They've never accomplished anything physical in their lives," she said. "This gives them
bragging rights."

Marathoners once served an apprenticeship based on training fundamentals and historical precedence.
They started out in five-kilometer (3.1-mile) and 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) races, worked up to a
half-marathon and, after advancing to a training regimen of 40 to 50 miles a week and up, found the
courage to tackle a marathon. This process often took years.

Today's participants go right into a marathon because the typical five-kilometer race offers little
recognition or hoopla and is not perceived as an athletic steppingstone. Coultes's first race was
the Honolulu Marathon, which she has done three times. She does not run five-kilometers but
sometimes does half-marathons."

Lyndon

"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson

Quoted message said:

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks,

It's something to do when you're too old to sprint and do short distance so that you can say you're
still "young", like to "run", and are in really good shape.

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

OK, there is a bit of mental illness to it.

But I'll give you an actual answer. Basically, running is good for you. Good for cardiovascular
health, good for maintaining a healthy weight, etc... And at the age of 31, I really should be doing
it, because it will be good for me in 30 years....

And that's all too abstract. So, I basically set myself the next local (Baltimore) marathon to run.
Getting into it simply because it was good for me wasn't enough of a motivation. Getting a partner,
and saying "On October 18th, we have to be able to finish 26 miles" was enough.

And, sadly, the cardiovascular health may go up, but the mental health goes down - I hit the walll
and didn't do as well as I wanted to, though I finished. The moment I crossed the finish line, I
made up my mind to do the next marathon and train harder to do better....

[email hidden] wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks, Matt

1. Personal challenge. Doing one made knowing that I could do one that much sweeter.

2. So I could say "yes" to everybody who asks, "Have you ever run a marathon?"

Andy

In article said:

Quoted message said:

Hello all,

I'm doing a little research and was curious to find out the motivation behind running marathons.
Would you please tell me why someone would want to run
26.2 miles? Thanks,

See Marc Bloom's piece published earlier this week in the New York Times:

nytimes.com02RUN.htmlOpen ↗

Great article, Lyndon. Thanks for the post. The article does a great job at presenting ... ummmhhhh
... let's try to be nice about it -- some of the "differing philosophies" associated with the sport.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗