Maraton

“ There had been more or less talk concerning the advisability of allowing school boys to undertake such a long Marathon race. Fifteen miles, many thought, was far too strenuous an undertaking for lads as yet in their teens. Full-fledged athletes only run twenty miles in all the famous long-distance races, and even at that numbers of them do not finish, the task being too much for them. ”

“ A splendid body of athletes, twenty in number, had faced the starter, and at the crack of his pistol had darted off like greyhounds freed from the leash. They formed a magnificent picture of youth and vigor as they sped around the track. For the first mile or two they kept a fairly compact formation; but then the line began to lengthen. Some through weariness, others through craftiness, fell to the rear and let the others make the pace. By the time five miles had been covered, the sifting process began. Brawn and wind and staying power asserted themselves. ”

“ BERT WILSON, MARATHON WINNER CHAPTER I With Flying Feet A thundering cheer burst from ten thousand throats, as the three athletes, running like deer, swung into the stretch and straightened away for home.
It was the last day of the intercollegiate meet for field and track events, and the most thrilling feature had been reserved for the wind-up. It was a modified Marathon of fifteen miles and the fastest runners in the East had entered the lists. Each college had sent the pick of its runners to struggle for the mastery, and excitement was at fever heat. ”

“ Those who knew better saw that the good runners did not start at headlong pace. They held back in a bunch, and were saving their wind. In a run that covers five or ten miles it is the height of folly to make any effort at great speed at the start. By degrees experienced and knowing runners get into their stride, and in this fashion are able to finish strongly. ”

“ And so the run over the course of the Marathon race that was to be a leading feature of the athletic meet had been productive of several thrilling incidents that would not soon be forgotten by the three lads who were chiefly concerned. ”

“ He lost his balance, and, being so exhausted that he could not stand longer, pitched headlong to the ground, just as the fleet Hugh jumped into the lead, raced twenty steps further, broke the extended tape, and thus won the race.
How the heavens seemed to fairly quiver with the roars that broke out! It had been a most thrilling finish for the greatest race ever run in all the country. Time might come and time might go, but never would those who had been so fortunate as to witness the conclusion of the Marathon forget the thrilling spectacle. ”

“ The same is true in every field. The news of the victory of Marathon was borne by a runner, who coursed the twenty-four miles, gasped out his word of triumph, and dropped dead. Since then man has harnessed the ox, mounted the horse, and surpassed all other creatures in means of travel upon and within the waters, across the earth, high and higher in the air. ”

“ The landscape round Marathon is lovely, but it has itself well in hand. The hills all pretend to be gentle declivities. There is a beautiful little sheet of water, reflecting the trailery of willows, a green salute to the eye. In a robuster community it would be a swimming hole—but with us, an ornamental lake. Only in one spot has Nature forgotten herself and been so brusque and rough as to jut up a very sizable cliff. This is the loveliest thing in Marathon: sunlight and shadow break and angle in cubist magnificence among the oddly veined knobs and prisms of brown stone. ”

“ He seemed to be flying rather than running. Foot by foot he overtook the men in front. They knew from the startled roar of their partisans that he was coming, they heard the rushing feet behind them, and they called on every ounce of strength they had for a last desperate effort. For a moment they held their own, but only for a moment. With a terrific burst of speed that brought the yelling stands to their feet, he passed them as though they were standing still and breasted the tape a winner, in the fastest time ever recorded for the track. ”

“ Five miles, ten, and the pace began to tell. Some had dropped out altogether and others were staggering. The sheep were being separated from the goats. The real runners were ranging up in front, watching each other like hawks, intent on seizing any advantage. Most of them by this time had found their second wind and settled into their stride. Some were running on a schedule and paid no attention to their competitors, serenely confident that in the long run their plan would carry them through.
But Bert had no use for schedules. ”

“ It seemed to the mass of spectators, craning their necks to see what took place, as though that whole line of lithe runners sprang forward as one.
Every fellow doubtless had his favorite way of waiting for the signal; though a quick start is of far less importance in a long run of ten miles than when the race is a short dash. ”

“ In the great relay-race of the world many athletes—men and women—have won great fame by the speed and skill and daring with which they carried forward the torch and, themselves dropping in their tracks, have passed the flame on to the next runner; Paul, Francis, Penn, Livingstone, Mackay, Florence Nightingale, and a host of others. And many who have run just as bravely and swiftly have won no fame at all though their work was just as great. ”

“ The chances of sickness or accident or change of climate were too many to justify them in depending upon a single competitor to carry the colors of his country in any given struggle. Thus in the pole vaulting, hammer throwing, swimming, hurdling, javelin casting, there would be from three to six competitors each. In the Marathon—most important of all—as many as a dozen would probably be taken. So that all were buoyed up by the hope that even if some luckier or better man carried off first honors to-day, they still might be of the elect, if they were well up at the finish. ”

“ Victory is on Marathon.
She cometh with brightened cheek,
She who all day hath wept;
The wife and mother’s tears,
Where her youngest infant slept,
The heart is in her eyes alone,
What careth she for Marathon? ”

“ Some grudging critics, including the erudite Mahaffy, incline to believe that Marathon was a rather small affair, judged by purely military standards—a conflict of one undisciplined host with an even less disciplined one, in an age when battles ordinarily were won by an endurance of nerve in the face of a hand-to-hand charge rather than by actual carnage. These maintain that the chief celebrity of Marathon rests not on its military glories, but on the fame which the Athenians, a literary race, gave it in song and story. ”

“ It had been arranged, as is always done, that when a runner was sighted nearing the bend a gun would be fired by the sentry on duty there, to attract the attention of the crowd, so that they might have the first glimpse of the leading contestants, as they rounded that abrupt curve where the view was shut off.
There was now nothing going on in the arena, the entire programme having been carried out. Still, few, if any, left their seats, although they had been there for several hours, it might be. The deepest interest centered upon the completion of the Marathon race. ”

“ But when running was practised at the contests, the moderation in speed of course gave way to the attempt to be first in the race and in consequence we hear of cases in which the victorious runner, on reaching the winning-post, fell down dead in consequence of excessive exertion, like the runner Ladas, whose statue Myron made. Therefore, the runners, as well as others who engaged in gymnastic contests, were in the habit of previously rubbing their bodies with oil in order to make their limbs flexible. ”

“ The investigation does not deal with the marathon running of the present day, but solely with the distances usually run in school and college—one half to two miles and cross-country seven miles.
Athletes from all parts of the country have been consulted, principally men who quit running years ago, and who have had ample time to note in their own persons the after effects of the training they underwent; men whose youthful enthusiasm has been sobered by years of business or professional life and whose judgment is therefore to be respected. ”

“ Fred had a pretty fair map of the region, which he had made from picking up information on every side. One of his motives in making this tour on Saturday morning, was to verify its truth. Once the route of the Marathon race had been issued, all those who expected to compete would have the privilege of going over the ground as often as they pleased. If any fellow were smart enough to discover how he could cut off a hundred yards or two, and yet report at every station, he was at liberty to do so.
A knowledge of the course often counts heavily in a Marathon race, as it does in many other things. ”

“ Now place the whole force abreast on a broad common, or in half a dozen lines, and set them to run a mile at no racing pace; at no such gait even as John Ennis went in March, 1879, when, after 474 miles of walking and running in one single week, he ran his 475th mile in six minutes eleven seconds, but let them go at even a horse-car pace; and if five hundred get over even half the distance it will be a surprise, while of those who do, many stand a good chance to feel the effects for days, if not for life. ”

“ Here the training should be long and severe, and no amateur can hope to do very much in mile runs in the way of time. It is true that there are some young men, calling themselves amateurs, that have made fine records at mile runs, but they were in reality professionals; that is, they made a business of running, even if they did not take money prizes. Begin with sprint racing if you hope to become eminent as a mile runner, and keep on extending the length of your trials gradually. It takes a good year's hard work to make a respectable mile-runner. ”

“ The runners run well on the ball of the foot, the heel somewhat higher than in the long race; their knees are well raised and their bodies erect. The movement of the arms seems exaggerated at first, till we compare the vase paintings with snapshot photographs of a short-distance race. Then we see that every sprinter uses his arms. The Americans have certainly reduced running to a science, and I will therefore quote a passage from a well-known American trainer and athlete: “The arms are of great service in sprinting, and the importance of this fact is generally under-estimated. ”

“ They began to divest themselves of their clothing and throw it behind bushes at the sides of the road. They were at last running like athletes clad in nothing more than trousers and shirts, and with bellowing chests and arms held to their sides. They strung out, according to their endurance, with David and Morgan in the lead, Goliath third, and Tim, the latest arrival from San Francisco, dropping slowly behind, but doggedly striving to carry on in this trying night marathon. ”

“ When the trial is changed to a sprint race, where great speed is required and a severe temporary strain comes on heart and lungs, the pugilist would answer the purpose better, as condition is the great point in such a match, style being secondary.
For longer running contests up to twenty miles, where economy of strength is everything, style becomes a valuable adjunct; and here the professional runner is indicated as the proper trainer.
For twenty-four-hour walks and runs the professional pedestrian is also the man to employ, as such efforts are not above the capacity of men in fair condition. ”

“ P. CONNEFF'S STRIDE IN THE MILE RUN.
Training for the mile run may be begun at almost any time of the year, but it is presumed in all these short sketches that training will be started in the winter-time and developed in the spring. Preliminary work in long-distance running is of the simplest kind, consisting merely of walking and running at a slow jog four or five miles every day until the spring season has fairly set in. For this kind of work the best costume to wear are knickerbockers, heavy shoes and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a sweater. ”

“ Mile runners aren’t made in a day, nor a week, nor yet a year, for that matter.”
And when Gerald complained to Alf that he feared Andy wasn’t going to take enough interest in him, Alf gave him a little lecture. “Get that idea out of your head, Gerald,” he said, severely. “Andy knows what he’s up to. When he tells you to jog, you jog. When he tells you to sprint, you sprint; and when he says rest, why, rest as hard as you know how. That’s the way to get on fastest. Distance running, as I’ve heard, is largely a matter of endurance, and I guess endurance is something you’ve got to learn slowly.” ”

“ There’s nothing very spectacular about a mile race. It is rather a test of endurance than of speed when compared to the middle distances and sprints, and as the time for the distance is likely to be somewhere around five minutes the pace is not fast enough to be inspiring to the spectators. ”

“ Every race you engage in will increase your experience and give you confidence for the next time. Good time for 100 yards ranges from 11 seconds to 101⁄4, according to the ground, &c. The top speed is seldom obtained until 40 yards are covered. A good sprinter will generally beat two others in 200 yards, each to run 100 yards with him on end. For sprinting, wind is not such a desideratum as elasticity of muscle. The shorter the distance, the greater care and practice should be made in starting; the longer you have to sprint, the greater will be the necessity for working up the muscles. ”