As I have noticed, many of you are active and like sports. I'm sure that you have heard about marathons, but have you heard about ultramarathons ?
The word of marathon comes from ancient times, from a Greek messenger -Pheidippides. The legend of this messenger said that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon back to Athens. He was supposed to deliver a victory message to announce that the Persians had been defeated. After running 42.195 km without stopping, right before his death he exclaimed 'we have won'. The current idea of marathon was presented by Michel Breal for the purpose of the first modern Olympics in 1896.
Ultramarathons are something more than the mythical marathon. Ultra distance run is any event which involves running, walking on distances longer more than the distance of a regular marathon. The most common distances are 50km and 100km, but there are many far longer. Ultramarathons are often held in very harsh conditions, e.g. in the mountains or the desert. The best example is Des Sables Marathon which takes place in Morocco in the Sahara Desert and covers 240 km. The winner of the last edition reached the end of the race with a total time of 20H27'37.
Nowadays, each year, about 1000 official marathons and ultramarathons are held worldwide. The first, non Olympic marathon, took place in Boston in 1897. Currently, the event is always held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. In 2013, we witnessed bombings that took place at the finish of that race. One of the largest and most popular marathons include runs in mentioned Boston, New York, Berlin, London, Paris. In each event the number of finishing runners is about 30k. The biggest Polish marathon takes place in Warsaw and last year 8,5k runners finished it.
The biggest danger during the ultramarathon is dehydration. During such a long run, water loss is huge and can be fatal. Another important issue to consider during every kind of a long distance run is proper nutrition. Knee joints and hips of ultra-runners are also exposed to much higher loads and overuse. Regeneration of knees after the marathon can even take up to two months. Ultramarathons and also regular marathons can be dangerous for a runner’s health and even life. Ultra-runners are even more exposed to the risk of serious injuries than normal runners. The internet is full of training plans and programs preparing you to run a marathon or an ultramarathon.
I can imagine myself running a marathon, but 200 km in the Sahara desert is something unbelievable. What is your opinion about marathons and ultramarathons? Have you ever thought about participating or you already took part in a marathon ? What is your opinion about organizing marathons in cities like Warsaw ?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraton_Warszawski
http://www.marathondessables.co.uk/site/
http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/
The word of marathon comes from ancient times, from a Greek messenger -Pheidippides. The legend of this messenger said that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon back to Athens. He was supposed to deliver a victory message to announce that the Persians had been defeated. After running 42.195 km without stopping, right before his death he exclaimed 'we have won'. The current idea of marathon was presented by Michel Breal for the purpose of the first modern Olympics in 1896.
Ultramarathons are something more than the mythical marathon. Ultra distance run is any event which involves running, walking on distances longer more than the distance of a regular marathon. The most common distances are 50km and 100km, but there are many far longer. Ultramarathons are often held in very harsh conditions, e.g. in the mountains or the desert. The best example is Des Sables Marathon which takes place in Morocco in the Sahara Desert and covers 240 km. The winner of the last edition reached the end of the race with a total time of 20H27'37.
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| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sahara_Race_2011.jpg |
Nowadays, each year, about 1000 official marathons and ultramarathons are held worldwide. The first, non Olympic marathon, took place in Boston in 1897. Currently, the event is always held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. In 2013, we witnessed bombings that took place at the finish of that race. One of the largest and most popular marathons include runs in mentioned Boston, New York, Berlin, London, Paris. In each event the number of finishing runners is about 30k. The biggest Polish marathon takes place in Warsaw and last year 8,5k runners finished it.
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| http://www.futureperfectmanchester.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/paris.jpg |
I can imagine myself running a marathon, but 200 km in the Sahara desert is something unbelievable. What is your opinion about marathons and ultramarathons? Have you ever thought about participating or you already took part in a marathon ? What is your opinion about organizing marathons in cities like Warsaw ?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraton_Warszawski
http://www.marathondessables.co.uk/site/
http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/
Comments
Marathons seems to be very fun and entertaining type of event, especially when attending with friends.
No i have not seriously thought about attending one and I did not participate in not one yet.
And do you remember what was a reason of Pheidippides death? If I am not mistaken the reason was that he didn't drink anything. So it means it doesn't really matter from the distance but also from other factors. As you mentioned - drinking water is extremely important.
"Regeneration of knees after the marathon can even take up to two months." Geez, is it healthy? Sounds awful... What about the surface they are running on? BTW desert and sand? It is better for knees I guess but it seems to be impossible... :D
I think this is very peculiar and there are and there will be lots of people, who would like to do it even if it's disastrous for their health. I am not a "runner" type, so I can say honestly that I will never take part in anything similar :D
Check it out http://www.ladakhmarathon.com
No but honestly, when I snowboard that high a really feel the difference...
I believe that there are better places for marathons than a middle of a city, but I can agree that it's a good way to spread the idea of running and make traffic jams.
Yes, cause of Pheidippides death was extreme exhaustion and dehydration, but I can be mistaken :).
Maybe you'll find it intresting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyEuWGCq5pc - Documentary film about Badwater Ultramarathon, where start is 87m below sea level and ending at 2548 m over sea, whole distans is 217 km.
And running a marathon even higher? Amazing.
What is your opinion about marathons and ultramarathons?
As long as they are not just rip off like Mazovia MTB it is a great thing.
Have you ever thought about participating or you already took part in a marathon?
I will never participate in running marathon, but I participated in 6 bike marathons including one 24h marathon in team of four.
What is your opinion about organizing marathons in cities like Warsaw ?
I would be interested in bike marathon in Warsaw which would start around midnight and finish at dawn.
Traffic jams are terrible. My boyfriend lives near the street, where marathines are often held. It's so annoying. You cannot leave your own house withou problems. Are you in similar situation?
There is also interesting story about Piotr Kuryło who run around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wamDPsII3h0
And last but not least. Remigiusz Siudziński finished 5000km in 12 days: http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/raam2.php?N_webcat_id=1
I think that the events with running and cycling are organized too often, it paralyzes the city. Why people organize these events always in the center of city ?
In this year I took part in nightskating warszawa. The route was 15 km, for me (person without preparation) it was little hard, but there was great fun, so I recommend.
Personally i wouldn't even run 1 km in there, mostly because of my unfortunate history with health.
But, it doesn't mean that every is just like me, as humans we did many crazy unbelievable things and doing such ultra marathons can be still intresting.
I am participating in ordinary marathons whenever i got time, but lately most ordinary marathons organized in Warsaw are just badly placed in wrong time. They are huge and last for very long time, but streets they are in are most definitely are not chosen smartly. They block routes on most used streets making it impossible for other people to navigate. And that's all fault of city administration. So, i can't imagine if it will be possible to make ultra marathon, unless it will be under Warsaw or any other in Poland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOawfAhWYyk#t=85
I like running but that is too much running to me. If anyone likes that then I am not the one to judge.
Have you ever thought about participating or you already took part in a marathon ?
I thought about it, but I don't have enough stamina to endure one.
What is your opinion about organizing marathons in cities like Warsaw ?
I think that it's ok as long as this doesn't disrupt the flow of the city.
Marathones is a good idea, but ultramarathones in my opinion is rather exagerration. Too long and too dangerous.
I don’t like run, so I’ve never thought about participation in a marathon.
In my opinion marathons in cities like Warsaw is not good idea. Rural area seems to be better for health people, who take part in run.
Regarding ultra marathons, I read a little about it and to me it’s too dangerous. There are lots of examples of deaths and serious accidents. In my opinion, sport suppose to keep us fit and healthy so we shouldn’t expose our body to such unnecessary extreme conditions, unless you are not a soldier etc.
I do not have anything against organizing such events in cities as long as it’s not too often and have place when most of people have holidays for example independence day etc.
Personally I'm not running much because it doesn't help when you are bodybuilding. It burns muscles, and it would require eating much more calories to maintain my diet.
Also running long distances is for me quite unappealing. I watched this years NY marathon and saw professional runners who were very skinny and some of them had blood dripping from their nipples. I also heard that ultramarathon runners don't have toenails, because they just fell off.
On the other hand, I don't think running regularly on very long distances is healthy. I have friends who regularly run marathons, even if their knees are ruined and they have to take some hyaluron acid injections before every run. It became their way of life - they find places that organise marathons all over the world and they travel to run them. Nowadays they are not even able to enjoy the places they go to, because they have to recover from every marathon they run and they have to watch their knees. I think it is very important to find balance between a healthy hobby and an obsession that can actually affect your health in a negative way.
Some time ago I read a book "Medicus" by Noah Gordon. It is based in 9th century and one of its threads presents preparations and the run itself of a marathon in Isfahan, Persia. A character was determined to succeed and be the first one to cross the finish line, because it would provide him a big prize from the monarch. The marathon took place in the middle of a day and a lot of people got serious injuries such as sunburns, dehydration, joint dislocations, sores etc. and it was "only" just over 40 km. I can't possibly imagine how would it be to run 5 times more and finish without any injuries at all.
Personally, I have knee problems, so I am not planning to run any marathons at all, not the regular ones and definitely not the ultramarathons in the Sahara desert. But I think the idea of organising runs in Warsaw or other big cities is promoting healthy lifestyle and is a nice event.
I saw and watched marathons in Warsaw and it is very nice initiative in my opinion. I know some people who took part in this event and they said it was great impression. Good for them:) for longer distances I prefer bicycling. Very nice article!
I have read great sentence about sport and health:
Sport is healthy, recreational almost always, professionaly almost never.
Marathons should be organized in special places where don't interfere with traffic. For example Warsaw is not the best area for this competition. Marathons handicap townspeople.
As I said before, I am not running at all, I prefer other sports like climbing or surfing.
I think that marathons in Poland are just blocking the streets, there is always a huge traffic because of that, closed streets, its very annoying.