People love the concept of running
a marathon. Perhaps it is the conquest
of one's own body and mind to run
26 miles that inspires people to train
and participate in such madness.
As the legend goes, Pheidippides first
ran the stretch from Marathon to Athens
in 490 B.C. just to announce that the
Persians had been defeated. He burst
into the Greek assembly, announced,
"We have won!"
Then he DROPPED DEAD.
In our twisted society, six-pack abs and
visible ribs are purporters of health. Most
anyone who trains for marathons will
exhibit these markers with pride. But the
reality is body fat at this level allows the
quick onset of sickness and promotes
the birth of cancer. The immune system
gets completely hammered with this
kind of punishment.
A marathon is a wretched plague of
sickness. Many do not finish, and the
ones who do are on death's door. Even
the best can collapse and need medical
attention. Runners like to say that deaths
are rare, but there are certainly enough
deaths of "healthy" marathoners to get
everyone's attention.
