Legend of the Marathon....4 days left

      Well, it's only four more days until my marathon. My runs have gotten shorter and shorter as I taper down in preparation to run 26.2 miles. The night before last I had a dream that I was disqualified for running through peoples backyards. Last night, I fell asleep at 7 o'clock reading my marathon book.  I suppose I am literally obsessed at this point and even though they don't admit it I'm sure my family can't wait for this run to be over. Although, everyone is very supportive and can't wait to see me cross the finish line. Logistically, I still have no idea how my whole family is supposed to wait for me to run for five hours. What to do with 3 kids in downtown Denver for that long.... I am assuming that's how long it'll take me. I will be ecstatic, if it is any shorter! Hopefully you've seen by now that there will be a link on Facebook updating on my progress on Sunday. It's supposed to give live status updates so... we'll see how that goes. I don't have much else to say at this point other than I'm nervous, but I thought I would share a little history of the marathon mystique.

    This is an excerpt from" Marathon The Ultimate Training Guide" by Hal Higdon. " How far is this marathon? The fact is that technically speaking all marathons are precisely 26 miles 385 yards. Anything longer and the race is considered an ultra marathon. Anything less and either the course was mis-measured or something else. The first event to be called a marathon was held in 1896 at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens Greece. This long-distance  race was staged at the end of those games to re-create and commemorate the legendary run of Pheidippides in 490 BC.
     In that year, the Persians invaded Greece, landing on the plains of Marathon on Greece's eastern coast. According to the legend, and Athenian general dispatched Pheidippides , a hemerodromo, or runner messenger, to Sparta  (150 miles away) to seek help. It reportedly took Pheidippides two days to reach Sparta. The Spartans never did arrive in time to help, but the Athenians eventually overwhelmed their enemy, killing 6,400 Persian troops while losing only 192 of their own men. Or so it was recorded by Greek historians of the time. Some historians dispute those numbers, suspecting they are the typical exaggerated claims of the victors. Then there is the question of whether the messenger dispatched to Athens with news of the victory was the same Pheidippides, who ran to and from Sparta. ( okay here's the really important part) A hemerodromo by that or another name apparently did run a route that took himself along the coast and up across the series of coastal foothills before descending into Athens, a distance of about 25 miles from the plains of Marathon.  According to legend Pheidippides announced "Rejoice. We conquer! " As he arrived in Athens then fell dead . "

   And that's the legend of the marathon . Run til you die. But if it was the same running messenger. I might argue that the first 150 miles might have don't him in , not the last 25. So based on that story, the race of Pheidippides was recreated for the Olympic Games in 1896  by running from the plains of Marathon to the Olympic Stadium in downtown Athens. At which time the winner was a Greek Shepherd . The Boston Athletic Associaton team manager was present that day and he was so impressed that he decided to sponsor a similar event in his hometown in 1897 . Thus the beginning of the Boston Marathon. Which remains the oldest continuously held Marathon. Did you know that to race in the Boston Marathon you have to qualify?

    Yes friends I am soooooo far away from that. But as I go out on Sunday and give it all I got, I'm going to stick with the goal of  "don't die, like Pheidippides" wish me luck !