Statue of Pheidippides alongside the Marathon Road
Suffering from recent back problems, I haven’t really managed to do any training or even push myself that little bit more and feeling sorry for myself. A friend of mine suggested I join her in running the Athens marathon, which would motivate me to do some training. Great idea, but I haven’t run a 10k how can I manage a marathon. She said to me well Pheidippides wasn’t a marathon runner either. Yes but he collapsed and died from exhaustion after delivering a message.
Who is Pheidippides?
The modern Marathon commemorates the run of Pheidippides. He was a soldier who was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. It was said that he ran 240km in two days. After that he ran the 40km from the battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon to Athens to deliver the Greek victory over Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. with the word “Νενικήκαμεν” (‘We have won’) and collapsed and died on the spot from exhaustion.
If you feel like things are difficult, imagine what it would be like to run 240km in two days!
