Why do we run? This is why. And why you should too!
The Persians didn’t see it coming. The armada sailing towards Athens under the command of Datis and Artaphernes— estimated by some to carry 25 thousand infantry, one thousand cavalry soldiers, more than a 100 thousand armed oarsmen and sailors, six hundred trireme vessels, more than fifty horse-carriers, and two hundred supply ships — had no more than ten thousand Athenians and one thousand Plataeans waiting to defend the ancient Greek city-state from being burned down.
Maybe overly confident in their superior military might or blinded by King Darius’ rage against Athenians’ support of the cities of Ionia against them, Persians were simply outsmarted by the humble Athenian force, who received them in a carefully chosen battleground near the city of Marathon, and after suffering thousands of casualties, retreated in panic back to their ships.
This was not only a turning point for Persians, which marked the end of their first invasion of Greece. It was also a crucial and historic one for Athenians. Athens could now stand tall and confident as a force to be reckoned with. Marathon was thus the pivotal point marking the steady rise and formation of the great Greek civilization, as we came to discover and study later, over the following centuries, the foundation, the cradle of western civilization as we know it today.
But this was not all.
The news of the improbable Athenian victory against the mighty Persians had to be relayed back to the metropolis. Pheidippides, that was his name, the brave soldier who ran all the way from Marathon to Athens carrying the good news. The excruciating effort of running what is still today 26 miles (more than 42km) was too much for poor Pheidippides though. He died upon arrival but the legend survived. The 26 miles lived on to defy generation after generation of common men and women, as well as the greatest Olympians, the world over. Running — or enduring !— the famous race distance, aptly named after that landmark battle in 490 BC, captured the imagination and daring-do of many.
Indeed, as humans, we have been always prone to take on many apparently pointless endeavors, sometimes at the expense of our own health or even lives. Truth is that, as humans, we are programmed to push beyond our limits, to surpass ourselves, to be faster, reach higher, be stronger, as the motto goes. This and the ability to imagine success has been humankind’s competitive advantage against other species. It has been the driving force of the best men and women, in each field of human existence, from science to sport, from the arts to economics. Yet what drives the common individual to take on running to the extent of literally going the proverbial marathon distance?
Those who have even attempted it know the race itself — the marathon — can be a wholesome experience that tests one’s physical and mental limits. An achievement very few people have attempted, even less have so successfully. But that’s no different from swimming, mountaineering or high-jumping. What’s seems to be special about running that tempts the ordinary person is that, as far as great achievements go, it’s one of the most closely related to the human condition.
We have been long-distance runners way before beginning settling in communities. Out there, in the African savannas of the Lower Paleolithic, we were not the strongest nor the fastest hunters. But we would endure very long steady runs in the pursuit of our prey, who would eventually collapse out of exhaustion. This is in fact a hunting technique we apparently share with grey wolves, African wild dogs, and spotted hyenas. Not a sexy bunch, come to think of it!
Natural evolution has thus designed our body to run; even if the deformities inflicted by modern living sometimes seem to suggest otherwise. Running has always been a life skill inherent to our human condition, of which the marathon happens to be the age-long sporting epitome. Think of it like that, as a useful mental note to have handy when someone — not least yourself — asks you “why do you do this”.
We all know the obvious tangible benefits of long-distance running — good physical and mental health — which are not too different from those of practicing any sporting activity. There is however something about running a marathon, that makes us feel, well, more human. It’s not the race itself; it’s the underlying lifestyle you embrace which, when taken to this extent, gets you closer to your most profound physical and mental essence. The benefits lie way more on the trip than on the destination. For me, before my first and only, it meant 2600 kilometers over two years — with a couple of half-marathons along the way — of which more than 400 were completed during the last two months to the race day.
Which is not much, by the way, but sufficient to make a runner out of you; someone who thinks nothing of, after one month flu-inflicted idleness, getting the shoes on and going for a swift 15 km morning run, just before that conference or meeting somewhere far away from the office. Now, how many people you know can do that?
And then, you do it as naturally as you take a shower, brush your teeth, or read and eat health-consciously. Habits that feed your body and mind and that have become part of who you are. This also means that, even if one stops for a while, soon enough you will get that urge again. The urge to resume something you feel is missing.
Ultimately, it means you will age and die like everybody else. Except, differently, maturing instead of decaying. Or so one hopes.
