Just Call Me Pheidippides

I have a tendency to not believe things I hear. A typical response when someone tells me some random fact is “Nu-uh”. Perhaps it’s a hangover from teaching teenagers for so many years or perhaps it’s my egomaniacal illusion that I know everything already. So when The Husband told me the history of the marathon, before I could even get the “N...” sound out of my mouth he blurts out “Look it up!” So I did. (I love Google.)

“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.”

I went on to learn that the original trek was only 25 miles (not the current 26.2) and some other boring stuff, while trying to ignore the background cacophony of “I told you so!” (Damn Google.)

Why, oh why, do I care, you ask? Because I’m going to China in May to run on the Great Wall of China!!! One of my BFFs, who is an uber-athlete and breezes through triathlons and marathons as easily as crossing the street, is running the marathon and has coerced me into doing the 10K. Good news/bad news: I’ll probably drop dead during it.....but what a fabulous story it’ll make for my funeral!

Check out this death march: