In the first of a series of articles, Emmet Malonesets the scene as he faces into his own very first marathon.
On the face of it, the legend of Pheidippides should rather effectively deter anybody foolish enough to take it into their heads to go out and run very long distances. The story goes that the Athenian messenger collapsed and died in 490 BC, moments after running from Marathon to his home city and revealing news of its victory over the invading Persians.
Right, you might think, nobody's going to do that again in a hurry. And you'd be right. It took quite a while before anybody tried it off their own bat. Still, since the organisers of the Olympics held in Greece in 1896 decided to include a race from Marathon to Athens in order to commemorate one of their most famous legends, marathons have gradually become an international phenomenon with tens of thousands of people each year - many of them "non-runners" - deciding to push their bodies to the limit by running the now regulation 26.2 miles.
Both the legend, as it happens, and the distance over which the race is now run, are simply made up. In their hugely enjoyable book on the subject, 26.2 Marathon Stories, Kathrine Switzer and Roger Robinson point out that there is nothing to suggest Pheidippides ever ran from Marathon to Athens, much less that he died of exhaustion upon arrival. That particular yarn was, they report, dreamt up more than 500 years later by the writer Plutarch after which it was embellished by others, not least the English poet Robert Browning.
What Pheidippides does seem to have done, however, is cover the 150 miles of rather challenging terrain between Athens and Sparta in about 30 hours in the hope of securing aid for his city. Having been rebuffed, he then had to make the return journey in similar time. Technically, the messenger was more an "ultra runner" than a marathoner but, hey, that's for another day.
Then there is the question of the distance. The 1896 race was run over the 25 miles that lie between the actual two locations at the heart of the legend. In 1908, though, the English organisers of the 1908 Olympics wanted the race to start under a terrace at Windsor Castle and end with a lap of the stadium at White City so they thought, what the hell, and added an extra mile.
The precise 26 miles and 385 yards then became standard for a race run annually in subsequent years over a similar course that finished up at Stamford Bridge. In 1924 it was adopted internationally.
A little bit of the magic then may be manufactured, but for all that I've become one of those hooked by the notion of it all. A 39-year-old who cycles to work fairly regularly and plays the odd bit of football but has no history of what might be described as serious physical exercise, I have done a little running on and off over the past few years without ever covering more than a few miles.
For me, the main motivation was to be able to feel a little sharper mentally, keep on eating what I liked and drinking a few beers without starting to look heavily pregnant.
It is, however, hard not to be somewhat enthralled by Switzer and Robinson's rather exhaustive assessment of the wider benefits of long distance running . . .
"By strengthening the heart, running reduces the rate of heart disease," they write. "By pumping oxygen and antioxidants, it combats carcinogenic free radicals, and so reduces the incidence of many forms of cancer.
"By evacuating body waste promptly, it diminishes lingering toxins. By raising body temperature to fever level on a daily basis, it burns out infection. By stimulating sweating and increasing breath exchange, it eliminates toxins via the skin and expelled air. By releasing adrenaline, it flushes the system with disease-fighting white blood cells and immune substances. By reducing body weight, it counters the effects of obesity - stress on the heart, joints, lungs and muscles, and non-insulin dependent diabetes. By stimulating endorphins, it alleviates stress, counters depression, and enhances creativity and problem solving. By strengthening bones, it radically reduces the incidence of osteoporosis. By maintaining strong blood flow and creating a positive self-image, it improves sexuality. Finally, by leaving the body fulfilled and tired, running helps maintain healthy sleep patterns."
Well, clearly, we'd all fancy a bit of that.
What most of us don't fancy quite so much, though, are the four or five outings a week over five months or so that are required to get to the stage where a body can endure its first marathon.
I'm told by some that it all becomes fairly addictive but then I'm warned by just about everybody who has ever run the distance about the tiredness, aches and pains, chafing and, of course, the need to invest heavily in Vaseline (gulp!).
As first timers go I am not too badly fixed. I am moderately fit, live in an area with places to run, I quite like pasta and have been known to eat a banana. Like many others, though, I will be attempting to juggle training with work, the standard obligations that come with a young family and, no doubt, a wide range of totally unexpected stuff.
What I hope, though, is my ignorance of what's in store during the months ahead will help me in some way to draw together information and pass it on to those of you also aiming to train for a marathon over the summer.
The target of the series of articles that will appear in these pages during the coming months is to provide a basic guide for other first-timers drawing on the expertise of some of Ireland's leading distance runners as well as experts in fields such as nutrition and physical fitness. Feedback on what all of you would-be runners would like to see covered would be appreciated as would, I suspect, a lift around large chunks of the course, come the end of October.