The first guy to run a marathon fucking died. Now, even fat people run them. Were the ancient Greeks wusses?

running for 1 minute and then walking for 5 doesn't count

how long does it take to train to run a marathon? i mean actually run one. not just walk 75% of the time and take 6+ hours. i know within a month of crosscountry i could easily run 10 miles. 26 is different than 10 obviously but I can't imagine it would take more than 3 months of consistent training for any average normie.

>>76316216 (OP)
Don't believe those fairytales, the people in ancient history were far healthier than people today. Sometimes freak concidences do happen, but also there are often plenty of arguments and clauses about who was the first person to do something without it being an outright complete lie.

It's again people thinking about what they CAN do rather than what they SHOULD. Long distance running other than done casually is really bad for you. Even the word "casual" has a stigma to it, like you're not a "true" patron of the activity when you just do it casually - actually the vast majority of things should be done casually because casual is where you get the most benefit and least it becoming a thing about ego and you start wasting your life on the thing for itself than what it can do for you.

>>76316282
>far healthier than people today.
Citation much needed

>>76316282
>the people in ancient history were far healthier than people today

average life expectancy 30 years old

>>76316478
It wasn't. The mortality for babies was high, that's all. If someone survived pass age 2, he had decent chances to live into his 80s without any modern diseases like diabetes or arterosclerosis

>>76316216 (OP)
The ancient Greek story had multiple versions that were probably all just romantic poetry. The marathon race was invented for the first modern Olympic Games and promoted as a romantic idea to generate intetest in the games.
It would be like someone 2000 years from now creating a cross nation run based off the heroic saga of Forrest Gump and his legendary criss-crossing of the nation.
Ancient historiography was largely just propaganda and entertainment, usually based off a story heard from some guy who knew a dude whose brother told him about it.

>>76316558
>The ancient Greek story
bladibla - rooning is not good for u is the story & rooning in excess can literally kill u - all true

I've driven from Marathon to Athens. It's not flat, tarmac-ed road. Coupled with the heat, lack of water and cumbersome gear they'd have been carrying its not surprising that he died.

>>76316216 (OP)
The first guy was Pheidippides. And the story is he ran from Athens to Sparta and back then to marathon and back to Athens. So like 300 miles in like 2 days. The marathon was just the last part of the run.

>>76319473
Didn't he also participate in the battle?

>>76319230
>oooh I have a driver's license
Nice humbelbrag post

>>76319496
nta but he probably wasn't in the heaviest front row battles. He was listed as a specialized army messenger trained in long distance running.

>>76316216 (OP)
Imagine the state of his knees. I tried to run once when I was fat and I had to stop after literally few seconds because something snapped in my hip. Fatasses should keep to walking and swimming

the time limit is usually 6:30 or even 7 hours, you could literally just walk the entirety of the race and then claim that you've "run" a marathon
>>76319473
iirc he did it while still wearing his armor too
>>76316271
if you are serious about running <3h is the common goal, otherwise <3:30 or even <4

>>76320533
>>76316271
oops I misread he first sentence in your post. A lot of normies do start running only a couple of months before a marathon but they finish with a shit time and then don't continue training after the race, so what's the point? As I said in my other post it takes nothing to reach the finish within the time limit, you could do it tomorrow if you wanted to, but that's pretty retarded and just a way to pretend that you've accompliced something. Getting a good time requires a lot of training, but I have no idea how long it takes to go from couch to doing a sub 3:30 marathing

>>76316216 (OP)
It was different back then, the terrain was much more difficult

Pheidippides didn't die after running one marathon. He ran from Marathon to Athens, then to Sparta, then back to Marathon, then back to Athens. A total of 350 miles in 3-4 days.

>>76320552
yeah I've got the feeling that Pheidippides didn't have high performance shoes, perfectly smooth roads, and regular posts along the way with people giving him water and sugary drinks

>>76316558
>The ancient Greek story had multiple versions that were probably all just romantic poetry
It wasn't romantic, it was a moral story about too much distance running killing you.