So some Greek dude (Pheidippides, if you must) runs back from battle in Marathon all the way to Athens. Upon his arrival, he exclaims "Niki!" then keels over and dies. Is this cause for celebration? Is this some magic distance that is the maximum a person can run? What the fuck are you thinking? People run further than a marathon all the time and throughout history homo sapiens ran that far regularly as a matter of survival.
Why is a marathon considered sacred, holy, amazing? People see a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers) as the upper limit for what we as humans can run. It is the maximum. Somehow, we have bought into that idea and excepted is as fact. But it is bullshit.
One side effect of the term "Marathon" entering our lexicon is that people start talking about "half marathons" as if they mean something. It's a fucking 21.1km race. Just call it that. Better yet, just run 10km, 20km, 40km, 60km, etc. races. Don't sweat the moniker. Just run.
On the other end of the spectrum we have the "ultra marathon". So you ran 26.3 miles in a race. Congrats, you, by definition, are now an ultra marathoner. Anything over that arbitrarily assigned number of 26.2 miles is considered "ultra". Who fucking cares? Are you trying to impress your friends with your tales of running prowess? Did you even bother winning the race you are bragging about? Maybe the race you ran sounds so cool to your friends because they still think that they can't run that far, that a marathon is the limit of human endurance.
The one thing a marathon has going for it is that it is organized well. It has police, and barricades and markers and water stations. There are timing chips and other people to run against. These are all really great--if you are into that sort of thing.
Otherwise just run. Enter the race that isn't fully supported. Bring your own water. Most of all, don't look at a race as being "worthwhile" because it is a half-marathon, marathon, etc. Do a 20km or a 25km. They aren't exactly the same distance as a half marathon, but so what? Do balloons and confetti fall from the sky once you cross the 13.1 or 26.2 mile mark? Of course not. It's all arbitrary.
Once we get the silly notion out of our collective heads that a marathon is the most a person can run, the better off we will be. People look at a marathon, and say "I can't." They give up before they even try. So much myth has been built up around the distance that people think it is impossible to go further. After the idea that a marathon is the maximum we can go, then people will go further. It is already happening now: fringe runners compete in ultra marathons, (and I am not talking about 26.3 mile races). They run 100 mile races. They don't see a marathon as a ceiling, but instead as one of many distance races to run. They stopped believing the hype. They started running because they want to. They run as far as they want. We have many talented runners in the world and so much talent is wasted because we think that we need to stop at 26.2. If we could just keep pushing ourselves, think what can happen.
