WEBVTT - How Marathons Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.920 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.760 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, and there's 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.439 Jerry And this is Stuff you Should Know, the Hot 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.639 and Sweaty edition. It is hot in here. Although I 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.600 know that you were talking about marathon running, yeah I was, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.040 but it worked both ways. You know you ever had 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.760 an urge to run a marathon? No? Same here, not 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.120 really even researching this. You know, I get kind of 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.440 caught up when when we do research from like I'm 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:41.879 gonna start growing Bond's eye, I'm gonna grow orchids. I'm 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:46.760 gonna start um, you know, um clipping those little uh 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:51.159 those little indentations into into currency to help the blind 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.520 and start cleaning up crime scenes. That was another one. Yeah, 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.320 so that didn't happen. I felt that the beginnings of 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.160 an inkling of it. And I want to go jog, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.440 but I don't want a marathon. No. Well, my joke 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:10.200 that I've been saying for about thirty years is I 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:15.200 don't even like driving twenty six miles. It's a good one. Yeah, 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.520 it's gotten a little stale. Um. Yeah, I've never had 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.280 the urge. I think it's great if people want to 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:26.760 run marathons, sure you, but um, it is not for me. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.880 I hate running. Uh see. I like running, I just 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.680 I hate it. I don't have any desire to run 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.680 that far for that long. I like walking or like spinning. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.840 I like all kinds of great aerobic exercise. You mean spinning, 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.080 like cycling, No no, no, like a like a kid, 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:49.440 totally okay, totaling and tumbling, I like rolling downhills No, no, no, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.040 spinning on a bike. It's all great. But I just 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.680 hate running. I hate it. Okay, I never have liked it. Well, then, yeah, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.800 marathon is probably not for you, But there it is 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.200 for plenty of people. There's and it's growing in popularity. 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:04.640 I don't know if you know this or not, but 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:10.480 marathons are quite popular, Chuck. I saw that in the 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:16.040 the upcoming I believe it's in November, the New York Marathon. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.119 They're expecting fifty plus people to run it. And that's 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.560 out of like a hundred thousand plus people who are 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:29.600 applying to be chosen to run. There's a lot of people. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.760 And then the half marathon too. There was I think 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.040 in two thousand, fourteen, four full years ago, there was 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.720 something like two million finishers. That's a lot of people 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.920 running marathons and half marathons. So clearly it's popular. And 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.480 that's okay with me, Like do your thing. Yeah, I've 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.720 I've I've flirted with the idea of a ten k 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:59.480 with our famous Peachtree road Race. Yes, because it's and 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.400 we'll talk about the sun in the show, but it's 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.120 you know, it's a social event. Uh And and from 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.480 what I see, it's a good time to go out 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.080 and run the peach Tree road Race. And growing up 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.639 in Atlanta seeing everyone with those shirts on the fourth 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.239 of July, I'm always like, man, I want one of 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.600 those shirts. One day. You can just buy one from eBay. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.560 But then I remember the running part of it, and 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.320 and then quickly just say no, thank you. And it's 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.680 on fourth of July, right, Yeah, yeah, I mean early 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.040 in the morning, so it doesn't matter. It's the fourth 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.600 of July in Atlanta, it's already like a hundred degrees. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.280 I know it's hot, that's crazy town. But I think 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:39.960 the idea is you get it done before like nine am. Yeah, 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.880 that's what I understand too, But still it's probably pretty hot, 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.800 all right. Should we talk about history here? Yeah, let's so. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.560 I think most people realize that the marathon is based 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.840 on Greek history, but there's a there's a pretty decent 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.160 story to it, if you ask me. Yeah. So let's 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:05.000 go back to ancient Greece. Let's go to Athens. We're 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.280 we're hanging out. We're a little drunk. Sure, I'm wine. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:14.680 We're eating uh delicious olives maybe, man, I love olives. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.360 Maybe some lamb? What else I've given up lamb? Yeah, 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.880 I don't eat lamb either. Um, let's see, we could 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:27.680 be eating um, rice filled grape leaves and uh what 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:29.880 it kills somebody to give us a little test siki 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.560 sauce for him, I don't think so. All right, I'm 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.720 happy that, all right. So we're hanging out the azure 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.560 blue seas, the beautiful white homes on the seashore. But 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:46.080 things are not looking good because next door, the Persians 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.320 want to come in here and kill us and take 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.039 our city because it's so beautiful. Yeah, and there's a 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.719 lot of them. There are, there's something like five to 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:58.880 one compared to the Athenians. So we're worried. So the 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.679 Athenian Army, like most other Greek armies, and like the Inca, 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:08.200 later would um employed runners who were who were soldiers, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.720 but their job as a soldier was to run as 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.600 a messenger from place to place as fast as they 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.760 could over very long, rocky mountainous distances. Yeah. Did they 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:21.600 not use horses because of the terrain? I don't know. 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:25.960 Maybe horses hadn't made their their way down there by then, alright, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:30.200 So for whatever reason, they use human beings that were 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:36.200 fleet of foot to literally run uh messages back and forth. 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.159 And it was a big job because you're not just 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.520 handing over a piece of paper. You you are taking 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.919 the place of a FaceTime call or a phone call, 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.400 and that you need to go back and say, well, 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.360 I gotta say. When I gave him the message, he 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:59.039 initially seemed interested, but then his face turned and although 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.000 he said it's okay, his face said it's not okay 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.520 at all. So I would really be worried if I 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:09.520 were you that his official reply isn't really on the level. Yeah, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.440 And they would go, Philippities, you are one of the 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.599 best ever, thank you. So. Philippites was actually the the 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.200 name of the Athenian army messenger at the time of 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:26.200 the Athenians fending off the Persian invasion about four ninety BC, 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:32.200 and um, he ran off to Sparta to from Marathon 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.440 and it ran off to Sparta to say, hey, Spartans, 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.960 we need your help. We've got this Persian invasion coming 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.360 and we need your help. And he was very famously 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.080 kicked into a bottomless hole. Yeah that the Spartan said, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.960 we have to oil our abs and do some crunches, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:56.080 so no dice on the help. Yeah, they said no. 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.640 And from what I understand, he he made it back 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.240 and said they said, now I have to go to 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.280 sleep now for a couple of days. Because he made 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.760 this trick about twenty five I was about forty kilometers 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.200 UM in a day and a half. But from where 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.280 from Marathon? Okay? I don't think we pointed that out yet, 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:17.840 did we? I did? Okay, I said he made it 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:20.240 from from Marathon, and all right, I think we just 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.200 I was missing the drum roll. Oh sorry, you ready 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:35.640 he was in Marathon. That's where he started out. Yeah, 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.120 I really blew it for us, didn't I didn't realize 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.640 it was See this is proof positive that we don't 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.480 coordinate before we record. I just thought it was supposed 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:49.119 to be a big reveal. You're like a marathon. It's true. 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.040 I'm sorry, they chuck, Sorry everybody. So that's the big 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:57.360 reveal is the name of the place was Marathon. Where Marathon? 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.200 That's right. So that's just story one. There's another story 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.480 that may have happened, may not have happened. All this, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.200 we should say, is ancient Greek legend as far as 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.560 we know. But the the Athenians actually did manage to 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:16.560 stave off the Persians, and Philipites was tasked with running 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.680 from the battle. Maybe that was a marathon back to 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.720 Athens to say, don't burn this hound down. The persons 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:30.080 have been vanquished. We're all we're all good. But rather 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.920 than being able to say all this, he has supposedly 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:37.400 made it back to Athens, just with just enough energy 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.600 left in his body to say Nike and fall over 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.959 and die. And Nike was, of course, the goddess of victory, 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.920 and victory meant that Athenians had held off the Persians. 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.920 Don't burn down the city. Oh so they didn't say, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.960 why are you plugging a shoe with your final breath? Right? 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:01.960 He goes, just do it? Uh. And the idea. If 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.319 it sounds weird that he that they were going to 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:06.960 burn down the city. I think the idea was is 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.240 that they thought they were gonna lose, so they were 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.320 going to burn their city down because they just thought 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:17.040 it was a bygone conclusion, aforegone conclusion, and that they 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.280 didn't want the Persians to come in there and like 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.559 raid their city. I think they really the jealous lover type, 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:24.400 like if you can't, if I can't have you, know 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.559 and catch you, they said it to their city. Alright, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:33.720 So flash forward in time to the very first Olympic Games, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.840 which we should probably do a show on at some point. Yeah, 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:42.680 we will like the first olympiad uh and the uh. Well, 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.920 there was one guy in particular, Michael brial or Brell, 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:52.079 who proposed including in homage to this and recreate this, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:57.319 this legendary marathon race that Fidipites ran so many years previous, 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.520 and the leader, I guess coordinator of the Games, Pierre 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.439 Day Cobortine, said that sounds good to me. Let's be 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.319 twenty five miles. We're gonna call it a marathon and 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:15.920 go forth and run. He didn't. And by the way, 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.960 I took French in high school. So if you'll allow me, 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:24.120 I think it's Michel Brial and Pierre de coubertin Okay, 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.560 you have to say it real snotty like um. But 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.200 they were apparent supposedly they're not like they don't deserve 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.640 all the credit. Robert Browning had written a poem about 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:38.040 Philippites run two Athens, and it was pretty popular at 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.320 the time, so they were probably inspired by that. But 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.440 they did. They said, we're gonna redo the Olympics. We've 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.559 gotta have a marathon race, which was not exactly chuck 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.200 Um accurate, because the Olympics have been going on for 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.480 hundreds of years by the time Philippites was around the 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.600 of the first modern games, we should say, right right, um, 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:58.400 and they went on for a couple of hundred years 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.680 after Philippites had come and on um. And at no 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.640 point during this I think maybe five hundred or seven 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:09.360 hundred year run of the first ancient Greek Olympics was 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:13.200 there anything even remotely close to a marathon as one 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.120 of the races. I think the longest that they had 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.480 was somewhere around between a five to at ten k 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.640 run that was far and away as far as they ran. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:27.280 But these guys decided to um again, inspired by the 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.400 Robert Browning poem create a marathon. And a lot of 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:34.160 people said, you're gonna kill somebody. Yeah, that was the thing. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.640 It was. It wasn't roundly accepted, the whole twenty five 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.960 mile thing. A lot of people did say that it's 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.760 too long, it's too hot. Not a good idea, right, 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.280 And they said, to heck with you, we don't care 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.560 if we kill anybody. This is the Olympics. Don't you 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.880 understand how big a deal that is? And they said, no, 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.560 not yet, but we'll we'll watch and see. So they 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.920 held this Olympics, and it was from the from the 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.839 very um, from from the very outset, the marathon was 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.520 taken quite seriously, I think, just because it was such 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.120 a nutso thing to try that no one had ever 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:12.520 tried before. Um. The Greeks in particular, who hosted this 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:17.280 first Olympics, they had thirteen of I think the seventeen 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.680 competitors in the marathon were Greeks, and they held trials 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.000 over the course over the marathon course to see who 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.160 who could do it and what their times were, and 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.360 um they came up with with some pretty good guys, 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.600 two of which eventually came in first and second for 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:39.320 those first Olympic marathon. Yeah, this guy speared on Louis 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:44.760 or Lewis, I don't know. He's Greek, his name is Lewis. Yeah. Uh, 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.200 he won. He got a time of two hours, twenty 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.960 eight minutes and fifty seconds. Uh. And legend has it, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:53.920 and this may be it may not even be legend. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:55.839 It may just be straight up in fact that he 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.400 stopped halfway through the race to have a glass of wine. Yeah. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.760 I was thinking about that, and I'm like, I'll bet 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.000 he was treating that like you would treat a gatorade. 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.240 He's like, I need to restore myself, so give me 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.960 some wine. Maybe the thing is that that time you 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.520 just said to two hours, twenty minutes and fifty seconds 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.520 is insanely good. And I'm sure that caught the attention 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.080 of people who run marathons and they're like, what that 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.280 was the first guy back in the thing about the 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.959 first marathon was they were straight up forty kilometer races, 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:35.000 so they were about twenty five miles, not twenty six 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.000 point two. Hence the reason why his um time was 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.199 so good. But it's still a really really good time, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.480 but that extra one point two miles at the end 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.800 can really jack your time up, from what I understand. Yeah, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:51.920 that didn't come about until in London when they were 0:13:51.960 --> 0:14:00.480 the host and King Edward the seventh wife Alexandra said, 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.080 and this is just so great. It was and she 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.559 was like, I would like the race just stopped by 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.520 the palace. And they were like, well, that means an 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.480 extra one point two miles on this already dangerous race, 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.400 and everyone rolled their eyes were like, all right, I 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.720 saw that. Not only did she wanted to start by 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.160 the palace, they said, okay, that's fine, it'll be like 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.760 twenty six miles. Then she said, well, okay, after you've 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.880 officially said that, um, I want to actually to start 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.760 in front of the children's nursery so they can see 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.880 the starting line. So they added another point two miles 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.520 because of Alexandra. So she's like, well kill them and 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.080 they're like maybe maybe, oh well all right, but still 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.360 do it. Yeah, so they for the Night Olympics. That's 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:46.440 the first time we have a twenty six point two 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.960 mile marathon, and it was so the children could see 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.640 from the nursery, which is kind of sweet. Actually it 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.960 is pretty sweet. And then so there have been marathons 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.960 before that one. Again, the first one was those eighteen 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.800 nine pigs. Um. There was one in Boston held in 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.280 eighteen ninety seven, which became the Boston Marathon, and it's 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.480 been held every year since then. That's amazing, it is amazing. UM. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:16.480 But from that point on, marathon's up until I think 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:21.040 nineteen seventy, they were elite events. You were an elite 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.560 marathon runner. If you were in any marathon, you were 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.480 there by invitation. Most of the time, your competitors were 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.880 from the country that the marathon was being running, and 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.760 it was an enormous honor to be invited. Um. And 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.840 that's who ran marathons. But then in nineteen seventy, a 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.120 guy named Fred Leebo or Leboo, I'm not quite sure 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.240 how you say his name. He said, you know what, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.800 to heck with all this snobby nous, I'm gonna start 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.840 a marathon for everybody. And he started a marathon that 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.640 ran around Central Park in nineteen seventy with a hundred runners, 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:57.840 and it was not only just opened everybody, it was 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.760 open to women too, which was a huge deal. UM. 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:06.000 And he started kind of the first UH mass for 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:10.440 the people style marathon in the New York City Marathon, 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.280 although Boston I believe it kind of been toying with 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.400 this a little bit, but Fred Liebo really kind of 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:17.960 blew the lid off of it, and from that point on, 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.240 marathon started to pick up more and more in popularity, 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:26.120 especially when an American won the gold medal in the 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.880 nineteen seventy two marathon at the Olympics, Frank Shorter. And then, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.840 of course for anybody who's seen for his gump um, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.600 the whole fitness craze that started around that time really 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.120 gave marathon running a boost. Yeah, that was, like you said, 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.800 seventy two. And I remember growing up in the seventies. 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.480 I remember even knowing as a child that this was 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:55.480 a new thing sweeping the nation, um fitness UH fitness craze, 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.320 a fitness revolution. I remember being just very aware of 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:03.640 like running, everyone's running, like they're running magazines and running 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.479 clothing that's all over the place now and everyone is running, 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.640 and I remember just like feeling like, man, this everyone's 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.320 making a big deal about this running thing. And it 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:16.639 was I didn't know at the time, but it was 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.680 because it was sort of a new deal. It wasn't 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.679 like you didn't have to be, you know, weigh a 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:28.239 hundred and eight pounds, uh, and just be like a 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.960 tiny stick of a person, Like that's what you think 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.439 of when you think of marathons. It really democratized it, 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:37.400 and uh said, you know, if you want to lose 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:38.879 some weight, if you want to manage your weight, if 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.400 you want to just have more energy or increase your 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.439 cardiovascular fitness, get out there and beat the streets and 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:50.480 run because it's sort of the cheapest, easiest form of exercise. Yeah, 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.520 and and it's also the most independent too. There's no team, 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.720 there's no you don't have to do with anybody else 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.720 you can there's no coordinating necessarily, although as we'll see 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.000 as you get into marathon and all that stuff really 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.399 comes into play. But at its at its core, it 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:11.800 is running is the the most basic type of exercise 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.800 there is. It really is, And I think that definitely 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.320 attracted a lot of people. Plus, um, I'm not sure 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:22.240 what kicked off that health craze, but that really really 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:24.320 fit in nicely with it. The idea of all you 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.600 need is a pair of shoes and some really really 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:31.040 revealing shorts and you too could be a runner. Should 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.720 we take a break? Sure, because I find myself getting 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.480 excited all of a sudden. It was the short shorts, 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.840 but wanting still to not run a marathon. Okay, all right, 0:18:40.880 --> 0:19:05.840 we'll be right back. All right, dude. So we said 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.840 the seventies or where the marathon boom started, but it 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:14.120 really hit and I think the nineties, um, people like 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.520 that's when. That's when marathons just started popping up everywhere. 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.000 By then, like cities, major cities all have marathons. I 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.399 think Berlin started their legendary one in nineteen eighty and 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.240 then London in one. But now you can go to 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.359 just about any town and there's a marathon there at 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.400 least once a year. Did you see this weird stating here? 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.159 Did that jump out at you totally? It's I'm just 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.520 gonna read it. They're trying to prove in this article 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.520 how what a boom in popularity in the nineties, and 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.960 it says this from n to nineteen two alone, marathon 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.720 finishers increase from nine thousand to nine thousand, two hundred. 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.680 It's like, is that right? Is it missing a one? 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.800 Is it supposed to be nineteen thousand. Don't. I don't 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.280 think so. I think they just are impressed by very 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.720 small numbers. There was another one who that came later. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.040 It said that the percentage of runners under twenty years 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.680 old over the past fifteen years has increased from one 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:19.840 to one eight percent. Whoa, Yeah, it's weird, man, all right, 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.080 those weird stats aside, there was a boom in the nineties. 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.960 UM Running USA said that the number of runners in 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:32.320 the largest half marathon and marathon UH in two thousand 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:38.440 increased by about ten thousand I'm sorry, increased, uh to 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:42.040 twenty nine thousand and thirty eight thousand, respectively in the 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.280 half marathon in the marathon. Yeah, that's like, um, that's 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.960 that's again. That thirty eight thousand numbers now fifty thousand 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.840 plus for the New York City Marathon. So it's it's 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.359 still growing quite quite dramatically. Katherine Switzer or Switzer came 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:01.720 along um the first official uh uh female participant for 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.800 the Boston Marathon, and dude, you know she was almost 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:06.919 thrown out mid race when they found out that she 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.840 was a woman running. Yeah, she entered as a case 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:13.000 Whitzer in nineteen sixty seven. Yeah, so she wrote a 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.280 book about it called Marathon Woman, where she not only 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.160 talks about the fact that women like are great at this, 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.280 but uh, you can do this. You don't have to 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:25.199 be nineteen and twenty years old. You can do this 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:28.639 into your into your sixties. And you see that. You 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:32.800 see people in their forties, fifties and sixties and beyond. Yeah, 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:37.679 just still out there pounding the streets. UM. Marathoners are 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:39.560 interesting people. Like when you see him on the street, 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:44.240 you can tell the difference usually of like your average 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:49.159 like I'm jogging for exercise, and like I'm running miles 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.760 and miles and miles. You can see it on their face. 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.600 You can't there when eyes usually kind of like popping 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.160 out more than the other. The hair is coming out 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.760 in tufts, their knees are bleeding, that kind of stuff. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.200 Here's the interesting step for me though. It says most 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:12.360 long distance runners are college educated from seventy four to UM, 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:16.040 which is interesting. And they make a couple of points that, Um, 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.800 you're not just exercising your your your legs or your body, 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:23.480 but your brain because a lot of brain training goes 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:25.320 into this. It's not the kind of thing you can 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.800 just say I'm gonna go run a marathon. Let me 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.879 see how that goes? Um with training and scheduling and 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:36.000 just being out there running for twenty six miles is 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.480 a big brain exercise in and of itself. Yeah. Yeah, 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:43.199 just the run itself is, but also the months and 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:48.520 months and months of preparation and dedication and um self 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:52.720 motivation and discipline like that takes a tremendous amount of 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:56.760 brain power that you might otherwise be you know, using 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.600 to do to do. I want a little Debbie coffee 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:03.439 cake or Drake's coffee cake today? Why not both? You know? 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:11.000 Should we talk about the training, sure, because training it's 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.520 not uh. And I'm glad they said this in this 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:16.000 article because I was afraid they were gonna be like, 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.280 here's how you do it. Um No, they very wisely 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:21.920 did the opposite of that. Yeah, there isn't a single 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.040 way to train for a marathon. There are so many 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:27.960 and I started to look and it's just overwhelming. It 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:33.720 really is, dude. There's entire magazines and websites dedicated to 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:36.480 just training for a marathon, not even just running, but 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:39.919 like training for marathons, and it's like there is a 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:43.040 lot to it. Yeah, So it's it's easy to be 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:45.960 intimidated by that or to go down the rabbit hole 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:48.720 where all of a sudden, six months later you're still 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:52.960 researching training methods and not just diving in, but you know, 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:55.480 find something that you think might work for you, and 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:57.240 then just get out there and give it a shot. 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:01.600 And a justice necessary would be what I gathered from this. 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:04.040 That's a that's a great advice, I think. Also it's 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:06.520 probably smart, as with just about anything these days, to 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:09.040 do like just some preliminary research to see if there's 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:11.280 anything you should look out for or try first, but 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.160 just get a pair of shoes and go try running 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.200 and see what happens. Yeah, so you're you're gonna be running, 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:22.240 not not every day, depending on what training regimen you undertake, 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:26.200 but almost all of them that I saw features at 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:28.919 one time a week you're going to go on a 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:33.320 run that's probably at least fifteen miles, right, And you're 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:36.720 not expected like the day you start training marathon, or 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.159 even the week you start training for a marathon, to 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:42.480 to do a fifteen mile run like that's something you 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:45.760 work up to. Fifteen or twenty or twenty six is 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:48.399