You don’t need to run a full 26.2 miles to finish a marathon; you just need to identify as someone who did.
That’s the absurd consequence of a decision by the LA Marathon to give medals to participants whoonly make it through about 18 miles.
Overall, the event was a thrilling success, with American Nathan Martin sprinting to the finish to catch Kenyan Michael Kimani Kamau by one-one hundredth of a second.
That’s the true spirit of competition — not the marathon’s 18-mile participation trophy.
Runners who quit could claim they were having a “tough day,” and received the same prize as those who actually finished.
The whole point of a marathon is to endure a “tough day.”
Runners who train for months understand that their hardest test will come around the 18- or 19-mile mark, when they’ve already put their bodies through incredible torment, but they’re still too far from the finish to feel the adrenaline rush that will carry them through the home stretch.
The infamous “Heartbreak Hill” of the Boston Marathon is between the 20th and 21st mile. And it’s not even a steep hill — just a gradual climb that is as much a test of mental strength as it is a test of physical endurance.
There is no shame in dropping out of a marathon if you’ve given it your best. Marathons are hardly races fit for human bodies, despite the large number of people who have taken up the sport of distance running.
Recall that the man who ran the original distance from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. to announce the Greek victory over the Persians fell over dead as soon as he delivered the message.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
