Written by Don Jenkins
A man who ran too many marathons to count had an attentive listener when he began to say, “The thing about the marathon …”
Ah, yes, the marathon. Runners have been trying to solve the marathon for a long time. The first marathoner, Greek distance messenger Pheidippides finished, had time to cry, “We have won,” before collapsing and dying. In Robert Browning’s poem on the subject, Pheidippides’ heart burst with joy at the Greeks defeating the Persians. “The bliss!” On the other hand, maybe Pheidippides would have lived if the road from Marathon to Athens had better course support.
In any event, Pheidippides went down in history as a hero. His example lives on. Every marathon is a chance for things to go wrong and a shot at bliss. Maybe, most marathons are a combination of the blissful and the baleful. The man who ran too many marathons to count offered this insight: “The thing about the marathon,” he said, “is that it’s a long ways.”
The Cowlitz Valley Runners club meets every Saturday morning year-round for runs shorter than a marathon. Follow our Facebook Page or join our Facebook Group.