HISTORY OF THE MARATHON

 The marathon  race  commemorates  the  run  of  the  soldier
Pheidippides  from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens
in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the  Persians.
Pheidippides  collapsed  and died at the end of his historic run,
thereby setting a  precedent  for  dramatic  conclusions  to  the
marathon.
     When the Olympic games were inaugurated in 1896  in  Greece,
the  legend  of  Pheidippides was revived by a 24.85 mile (40,000
meters) run from Marathon Bridge to Olympic  stadium  in  Athens.
Traditionally  the  final event in the Olympics, the first organ-
ized marathon on April 10, 1896 was especially important  to  the
Greeks.   Greece was hosting the first Olympics, had yet to win a
medal, and had one final chance to bring glory to  their  nation.
Twenty-five  runners  assembled  on  Marathon Bridge, the starter
mumbled a few words and fired the gun, and the race was on.  "The
excitement of the crowd waiting at the finish line at the ancient
but  refurbished  Panathenaic  Stadium  was  beyond  description"
writes  the  Greek historian Quercetani.  Spiridon Louis, a Greek
postal worker from village of Marusi and veteran of several  long
military  marches,  crossed  the finish line a full seven minutes
ahead of the pack.  His time was 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50  seconds
for  the  40 kilometer distance (average pace of 7:11 minutes per
mile).  When it was all over - nine runners finished (8  of  them
Greeks), the host nation was ecstatic, and the marathon was born.
     The United States was one of 9 nations at  the  1896  Athens
Olympics thanks to sponsorship of athletes by the Boston Athletic
Association.  Middle distance runner Arthur Blake  was  the  only
American  to  enter the first marathon.  Blake won a silver medal
in the 1500 meters 3 days before the marathon  but  unfortunately
this  left  him  exhausted  and  he  dropped out after about 14.5
miles.  The seed was planted, however, and organization for North
America's first marathon began on the boat back to United States.
     The first annual Boston Athletic  Association  marathon  was
conducted  on  April 19, 1897, the date chosen to commemorate the
famous ride of Paul Revere in 1775.  The topography of  the  24.7
mile course (Metcalfe's Mill in Ashland, MASS to Boston's Irving-
ton St. Oval)  was  remarkably  similar  to  the  Athens  course,
although  about  250 meters shorter.  Fifteen runners started the
original Boston marathon race (8 finished) with John J. McDermott
winning  the 39,751 meter distance in 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 10
seconds (average pace of 7:05 minutes per mile).
     At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the  marathon  distance
was  changed  to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle
to White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race  could
finish  in  front of King Edward VII's royal box.  After 16 years
of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was esta-
blished  at  the  1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon
distance.  Boston Athletic Association officials,  attempting  to
comply  with  Olympic  standards, also adjusted their course dis-
tance in 1924 but were devastated when it was  discovered  a  few
years  later  that  the Boston course was 161 meters short.  This
situation was immediately  corrected,  but  records  for  a  full
42,195  meter  marathon  can officially only be taken from Boston
marathons after 1927.
     Modern ultra-events such as Hawaii's Iron Man Triathalon (2-
mile  swim,  112-mile  bike,  26.2-mile marathon) have shown that
athletes are no longer satisfied with  simply  running  a  "mere"
marathon.   If  a  "simple" marathon is conducted, events such as
Colorado's Pikes Peak marathon (which climbs 7,700  feet  to  the
summit  of  14,110 foot Pikes Peak) have been designed to present
more of a challenge.  An interesting recent trend  is  that  more
and more people you never thought even knew how to run are lining
up at marathon starting lines.  Because  elite  marathoners  gen-
erally run their best times at age 32 to 34, more and more "thir-
tysomething" weekend warriors are now  giving  it  a  try.   This
craze probably began in 1984 when Steve Jones of Whales broke Al-
berto Salazar's world record while running  his  first  marathon.
During  the  monumental 1984 America's marathon in Chicago, Steve
Jones ran the 26.2 mile distance for  first  time  during  either
training  or  competition  in  2  hours  8 minutes, and 5 seconds
(average pace of 4:55 per mile).  This eclipsed Salazar's  record
of  2:08.13  which  most  experts thought would stand for several
years.  For you rookies, jogging a full marathon without  walking
or stopping can generally be done in about 4 hours so I recommend
you use that as your goal and check your pacing appropriately  at
the  5 mile splits.  If you feel especially grandiose as you line
up for the St. George or the Deseret News races this summer,  you
may  want to go after the current world records.  Belaine Densimo
of Ethiopia set the current men's world record in 1988 at 2:06.50
while  the current women's record was set in 1985 by Ingrid Kris-
tiansen of Norway in 2:21:06.  If you feel you only want  to  try
to  break  the American record - for men it is 2:08:40 by Alberto
Salazar (1981) and for women it is 2:22:21 by Joan Benoit Samuel-
son (1985).
     The incredible feat of running 26.2  miles  while  averaging
less  than  5 minutes per mile have motivated several interesting
research studies of marathon runners.  Medical research  in  this
area  began  in the late 1920's in the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory
under the direction of Dr. D.B. Dill.  Exercise studies were con-
ducted having athletes breath through a mouthpiece and respirato-
ry gas analysis system developed by Dr. J.S. Haldane and Dr. P.F.
Scholander.  The introduction of computer controlled equipment in
the 1980's has made data collection easier but has  not  improved
on the accuracy of the original equipment.
     One marathoner that was tested repeatedly at the Harvard Fa-
tigue Laboratory was Clarence DeMar (also known as Mr. Marathon).
A superb physical specimen, DeMar won his 7th Boston Marathon  at
age  42  and  continued  to compete strongly until age 66.  DeMar
spent many hours on the Harvard Fatigue Lab treadmill, thus  pro-
viding  the  first  scientific  descriptions  of  the physiologic
stressors involved during marathon competition.  Based  upon  his
data,   conditioning   guidelines   for  marathon  training  were
developed and the rapidly- growing fields of exercise science and
sports medicine were born.
     In my current position as director of the Human  Performance
Laboratory  at the University of Montana, I give treadmill tests,
check percent body fat, and analyze blood chemistry  for  lactate
and  overtraining  for marathoners who are preparing for competi-
tion.  The best advice I give to  marathoners  who  come  in  for
testing  is not to crash across the finish line and sprawl on the
ground like you see on television -  Pheidippides  death  reveals
the need for a proper cool down.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Dan Graetzer is the Director of the Human Perfor-
mance  Laboratory at the University of Montana in Missoula, a ma-
jor testing center for competitive marathoners in the Northwest.

The above material is copyright 1994 by Dan Graetzer.  Used  here
by  kind  permission of the author. May not be reproduced further
without the expressed permission of the author.