In 490BC, an army of about 10,000 Athenians (and a small contingent of help from Palatea) held off a numerically superior Persian army on the plains of Marathon on the eastern coast of what is now Greece. This represented the first time the Greek armies had beaten the Persians in battle and was of tremendous importance for the morale of the Athenians. Victory at the Battle of Marathon is still considered by Greeks as one of the major triumphs of the ancient age.
The rest of the world remembers it for a different reason.
After the battle was over, and after much high-fiving and trash talking, a general dispatched the herald Pheidippides to run to Athens to deliver a message of victory. Marathon and Athens were roughly 40 kilometers (~25 miles) apart. According to the historian Herodotus, Pheidippides ran the whole distance without stopping, burst into the assembly, shouted his message, "Niki!" (Victory!) and promptly dropped dead. It's all very dramatic, but it's not like he was calling for reinforcements. You'd think he could have taken a walk break or something. Is it really that big a deal if the world has to go another five minutes to find out your team kicked butt? Sometimes bragging cannot wait.
Fast forward to 1896. Pierre de Coubertin wants to revive the Olympic tradition and have the first Olympic games of the modern era in Athens. While picking events that would represent the physical accomplishments of days of old, mainly running far and fast and throwing heavy things, he wisely chooses not to bring back naked wrestling. However, he does include Pheidippides' famous historic run from Marathon to Greece. On April 10, 1896, the gun went off and 2:58:52 later, a Greek water carrier named Spiridon Louis was the first across the finish line and the marathon race was (re)born. I don't know what the water carrying profession paid back then, but apparently it kept one in pretty good shape. Even today, going sub-3 on a marathon is considered a major accomplishment and is more than good enough to qualify anyone for the Boston Marathon. Again, this was an important victory for the Greeks since the marathon was the very last event of the 1896 Olympic Games and the Greeks still had not won a single gold medal. National pride was secured.
The marathon distance of 40 kilometers was a nice round number and you'd think that was that, but the British just couldn't leave well enough alone. In 1908, it was London's turn to host the Olympics and of course they had to include the marathon. While measuring out the course, it was determined that 40km just wasn’t good enough and they wanted the race to finish with the best view of the Royal spectators. So the distance was changed to 26.22 miles. This flip-flopped a few more times until that distance was made official in 1924. Supposedly there is a tradition of shouting "God save the Queen!" (or something else about the Queen) at mile 24, although I have personally never seen or heard of anyone doing that.
So, here we are in 2010. I have run several marathons and generally enjoyed myself and thus far have been able to avoid dropping dead. Perhaps it's because I still have not delivered the message of victory. I have always wanted to run the original marathon route in Greece and I figured I'd get around to it someday. As it turns out, 2010 marks the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon in 490BC. This is a pretty big deal since there are not a whole lot of things that have a 2500th anniversary. When I found out about this back in January, I knew this was the year for me.
I have been training since the hot hot days of mid-summer and this Sunday, Alida and I fly out to Athens where we are joining in a tour which is part of a Houston-Athens marathon exchange program. We will be joining several other couples on a tour in and around Athens that culminates in the Athens Classic Marathon on October 31st and follows the same route from Marathon that was run in 1896 (and again in the 2004 Athens summer games).
So wish me good luck, good weather, and a good race. I'm loosely aiming to break four hours, although it's really not that important and I plan to stop occasionally to take photos of the monuments along the way. I'll let you know how it goes. In the grand scheme of things, this is just another training run for my major race in February.
