The modern marathon elites are truly breathtaking to watch.
The present world record stands at 2hrs 02min by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya . That's a mind blowing pace of 2min 55s per km, for over 42km.
But would you be able to guess the winning time in the men's Olympic marathon in the year 1904 ? The answer is 3 hrs 28 min. That's a time which many runners these days can achieve.
(Sorry guys, you potentially could have been Olympic gold medalists if you were born a century earlier!)
Running is not a new sport. Legend has it that the first marathon was run in circa 500 BC, where a messenger named Pheidippides ran 40 km to Athens to report victory at the Battle of Marathon.
(Spoiler alert, Pheidippides died after that run )
The point here is that people have been running marathons for thousands of years. If you are just starting out, you don't need to reinvent the wheel or make the same mistakes people made in the past.
For example, during the 1904 Olympic marathon, it was commonplace for the competitors to use rat poison as a stimulant. Thankfully these days we use caffeinated gels instead!
Coming back to the title of this article, joining a running group allows us to learn from the accumulated experience of many other runners. Wisdom from Runtalk is worth it.
I have learnt a lot from other runner’s experiences by running with the Running Department.
Within Running Department, we have members who are physiotherapist, sports massage therapist, qualified fitness instructors, mindfulness coach and experienced runners who have qualified for the Boston marathon. If you want to improve areas outside of running, such as academic subjects, we also have english and math teachers to help you!
Personally, just the simple camaraderie of running in a group is motivation enough to wake up early in the morning, often much earlier than on working weekdays even! The benefits of running in a group are way too many to describe, and best discovered in person.
Here are 3 ways you can join Running Department in our group runs:
1. Follow our Facebook or Instagram page for latest updates on upcoming runs and schedules
2. Hit us up on our website www.runningdept.com for more in-depth articles and features
3. Lace up your running shoes and train with us. For more details on our current training programs click here.
Be a part of "Train With Us: 2018 Reloaded"
Join our community to run, train and clock points together for exclusive rewards from our partners. Visit www.runningdept.com/trainwithus for more information.