I'm becoming obsessive, but I thought I might share some history with ya'll. See, I really can't think about anything else.
Wikipedia entry on history of the marathon:
The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought), which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, 'We have won.') before collapsing and dying. The account of the run from Marathon to Athens first appears in Plutarch's On the Glory of Athens in the 1st century AD which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus's lost work, giving the runner's name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles. Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) also gives the story but names the runner Philippides (not Pheidippides).
"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under
your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted,
fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the
strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the
most guts."
Steve Prefontaine
"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going." George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian
"The marathon is like a bullfight. There are two ways to kill a bull, for instance. There is the easy way, for one. But all the great matadors end up either dead or mauled because for them killing the bull is not nearly as important as how they kill the bull. They always approach the bull at the greatest risk to themselves, and I admire that. In the marathon, likewise, there are two ways to win. There's the easy way if all you care about is winning. You hang back and risk nothing. Then kick and try to nip the leaders at the end. Or you can push, challenge the others, make it an exciting race, risking everything. Maybe you lose, but as for me, I'd rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way and lose, then run a conservative, easy race only for a win." - Alberto Salazar, 1981
Hahaha, I thought this last one was especially relevant for the Madrid Marathon although there will be no racing involved. The goal is to finish. Just to finish and then maybe to do so without crying at the end.
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