The marathon defined
A marathon is a footrace with a 26.2 mile course which commemorates an event in ancient Greek history. Following the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, a soldier named Pheidippides brought news of the victory from the battlefield to Athens, running the whole way without stopping to rest. (He is reported to have dropped dead immediately after announcing the victory; thus demonstrating one of the problems that can arise when you attempt a long-distance run without training for it first.) At the Athens Olympics in 1896, his run was re-enacted as a footrace. The distance on that occasion was 40 kilometers (a little under 25 miles). To the delight of the local crowd in Athens, the race was won by a Greek runner, Spiridon Louis. His finishing time of 2:58:50 would not be competitive today; on the other hand, he stopped to enjoy a glass of wine along the route, and that does take time if you're serious about your sipping.
At the 1908 London Olympics, the marathon course began at Windsor castle and ended in front of the royal family's viewing box at White City Stadium. The distance this time was 26.2 miles, and for some reason that has been used ever since as the standard length of a marathon.
Who runs marathons?
The marathon, once regarded as a race which only a few elite athletes could hope to complete (much less win), has come to be seen as an event in which almost anyone can participate if they train for it properly. Marathons have become popular events; some marathons are so inundated with would-be participants that they have to use lottery systems or strict qualifying standards to limit the field.
Some figures for marathons in the USA in 2007:
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340 marathons were held, with a total of 407,000 runners crossing the finish line.
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The male/female ratio among runners was 60/40.
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The average age of runners was 41 for men, 37 for women.
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Average finishing time was 4.5 hours for men, 5 hours for women.
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The fastest age group for men was 40-44; the fastest age group for women was 35-39.
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About 17,000 of the runners were 60 or older.
I ran the California International Marathon (in Sacramento) in 2005, the San Francisco Marathon in 2006, and the Napa Marathon in 2008 and 2009.
My best finishing time (Napa in 2008) was just under 4 hours and 30 minutes -- which is perfectly average for a male runner, and about 3 minutes faster than average for a male runner in my age group. But serious marathon runners finish in under 3 hours, and marathon winners in not much more than 2. So, I don't have a lot to brag about, besides being able to finish the thing before the race officials go home.
Marathon Training Schedule
The training schedule which I and my running buddies use is adapted from a training program recommended by Hal Higdon. We use only the last three months of his full program, because the earlier phase of it calls for less running than we are generally doing on a routine basis.
In the table below (with dates specific to the Napa Marathon on March 7, 2010), the numbers are running distances in miles. "Gym" means any kind of workout that isn't running. All Mondays are rest days, so there is no column included for them.
| Week | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| Dec 7 - 13 | 3 | 5 | 3 | Gym | 7 | Gym |
| Dec 14 - 20 | 3 | 6 | 3 | Gym | 12 | Gym |
| Dec 21 - 27 | 3 | 6 | 3 | Gym | 13 | Gym |
| Dec 28 - Jan 3 | 3 | 7 | 4 | Gym | 10 | Gym |
| Jan 4 - 10 | 3 | 7 | 4 | Gym | 15 | Gym |
| Jan 11 - 17 | 4 | 8 | 4 | Gym | 16 | Gym |
| Jan 18 - 24 | 4 | 8 | 5 | Gym | 12 | Gym |
| Jan 25- 31 | 4 | 9 | 5 | Gym | 18 | Gym |
| Feb 1 - 7 | 5 | 9 | 5 | Gym | 14 | Gym |
| Feb 8 - 14 | 5 | 10 | 5 | Gym | 20 | Gym |
| Feb 15 - 21 | 5 | 8 | 4 | Gym | 12 | Gym |
| Feb 22 - 28 | 4 | 6 | 3 | Gym | 8 | Gym |
| Mar 1 - Mar 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | Rest | Rest | RACE |
Why why why?
I would guess that most visitors to my site have never tried to run a marathon, would not be interested in trying to run a marathon, and are horrified to learn that I'm interested myself.
Well, I wouldn't want anyone to think that you have to participate in extreme endurance exercise of this sort in order to control diabetes without meds. I've never run more than one marathon a year, and I spend only three months training for it, so for three-quarters of the year I'm not involved in the sport at all. I'm still able to keep my blood sugar normal, whether I'm training for a marathon or not.
Why do it at all, then? I guess because I like taking on an extreme challenge once in a while, so that I don't let myself get weak and fragile. Knowing that I will be doing difficult endurance sports (at least occasionally) keeps me motivated to maintain a certain minimum level of fitness, so that I won't have to start from the ground up when I do train for a marathon or something.
And maintaining a certain minimum level of fitness certainly is useful if you're controlling diabetes without meds.