Marathon Tasks:Sorry guys, but the girls hold all the aces when it comes to running in the pack this Monday in Dublin. Lindie Naughtonexplains why - while men often fold when the ante is raised late in the game - women can confidently go all in.
When the going gets tough, the tough women get going - and nowhere is this more true than in the average city marathon. Stand near the finish of the Dublin marathon and you will see stony-faced men shuffling painfully towards the line, their eyes unseeing and their minds far away. They are clearly at the outer limit of their endurance. You rarely see women in the same state of distress.
When they take on a challenge, women tend to prepare properly. If women are told to train for six months and gradually build up their mileage, they will do just that. Men are far more likely to make an impetuous decision to run the marathon with about a month to go. They haven't done the mileage and they pay the price on race day.
Women are tough; in their everyday lives, they have to juggle, keep positive and, above all, endure. They don't moan; they just get on with it, to quote a prominent Irish female adventure runner (and mother of two).
In sports that requires guts and determination, women have achieved some remarkable feats. Alison Streeter has swum the English Channel 43 times - seven times in one year alone - and, aged 43, she's not finished yet. Another swimmer, Lynne Cox, was the first to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia. She did it in water only six degrees warmer than an ice cube.
Susan Butcher has won the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska four times and Jutta Kleinschmidt the Dakar Rally. Rose Swale Pope, who has run the Dublin marathon, is two-thirds through her self-imposed challenge to run around the world alone, which she started in 2003.
Queen of them all is Ellen MacArthur, who became a household name when she pushed herself relentlessly to set a world record for sailing solo around the world.
When it comes to the marathon, the good news for women is that they are taking part in an event that suits them perfectly, not just mentally, but also physically.
Looking at the build of the running woman, researchers have speculated that she is built like a migrating bird, designed for prolonged steady activity rather than short bursts. A man's body consists of 40 per cent muscle - women have only 23 per cent. Since muscle is often dead weight, the relative lack of it isn't always a bad thing for a runner.
Women store more fat than men, but Ernst van Aaken, a pioneer of women's distance running, maintained the body fat stored by the trained athlete is not dead blubber; rather, it serves as a superior fuel in endurance performances and could be one of the reasons why women occasionally beat men in ultra-distance races.
When running marathons, the first 20 miles are relatively easy. It is the final 6.2 (don't forget that point-two!) where you find out what you are made of. Many men are striding along happily until they hit 20 miles. They then fold, victims of their physical make-up. They have "hit the wall".
Thanks to their extra layer of fat, women don't usually experience the same problem - their legs may ache and their arms probably feel like rolling pins, but they can keep going.
Women have another great physical advantage over men as runners - they sweat more efficiently. Over long distances, such as the marathon, the ability to keep the body's core cool is vital. However, because they sweat less and are smaller anyway, women are at greater risk of overhydrating.
At the 15-mile mark of the 2002 Boston marathon, Cynthia Lucero from Ecuador was feeling good, smiling and waving. Seven miles later, she stopped to drink a cup of water. Another runner remembers Lucero saying she felt dizzy and disorientated. A few steps later, she staggered and fell to the ground. She became only the second person to die in this great race and the first to die of hyponatraemia, or water intoxication.
Drink too much and you lower the concentration of sodium in the blood. This, in a small minority of cases, can cause brain seizures and death. The experts now recommend that anyone running a marathon (that is, the full 26.2 miles) drink 385-800ml of fluid per hour, depending on sex, body weight and the weather. That's about half the previously recommended rate.
At the Boston marathon, all 20,000 starters are given a pamphlet recommending they stay hydrated - but not overdrink - maintain a salty diet, favour sports drinks and recognise warning signs.
Good advice for men as well as women.
Now, let's talk about sex. One of the truisms of sport is that sex and sport don't mix. From the Old Testament, no less, comes the advice that a warrior should not go into battle shortly after he is married. Furthermore, neighbours should help out on his farm until he "adjusts" to matrimony.
Whether the matrimonial bed puts the same strain on women, we are not told. There is a yarn about a certain female cyclist who entertained not one but two gentlemen pedallers before a race in which all three were competing. A couple of hours later, the woman won the race after her two paramours fell off their bikes and didn't even finish!
On the whole, though, not a lot separates the average male and female runner when they line out in a marathon, aiming above all to finish without keeling over.
That is the essence of this great challenge - the top women will beat all but the best of the men, but back in the pack, men and women will support each other, sharing drinks, sweets and yarns.
Long may it continue!
• Lindie Naughton is a freelance journalist and an athletics coach, whose latest book,Let's Run - A Handbook for Irish Runners , has just been published by Ashfield Press.
