Marathon Runner
“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” [Hebrews 12:1]
In September in 490 B.C., Darius the Persian king sent an army of 25,000 to crush an army of 10,000 Athenian troops fighting for liberty. The Greek general, aware that his army was greatly outnumbered, sent Pheidippides [fi-dip-i-deez], one of the fastest runners in Greece, to carry the urgent request to Sparta asking for reinforcements. Pheidippides covered the 147 miles in a day and a night. The Spartans agreed to come following the full moon.
After eating a small meal, and with no sleep, Pheidippides ran with the message all the way back to Athens, again in 24 hours. Almost immediately after arriving, poor Pheidippides had to then march with the army to the plain of Marathon, where they engaged in a fierce but triumphant battle against the Persians. As soon as the fight was over he then ran the 23 miles back to Athens. Upon reaching the Athenian marketplace Pheidippides shouted, “Victory, victory!” and then fell dead. Some think it was the 23-mile marathon that killed Pheidippides. It was more likely the lack of sleep, lack of food, the infantry battle, and over 300 miles of cross-country running in four days that killed him.
The first Greek marathon runner has nothing on Dean Karnazes. Men’s Fitness Magazine says, “Dean might just be the fittest man in the world” (March 2006). Dean has traveled the country, speaking and running ultra-marathons to promote the importance of physical exercise and good diet. He recently ran 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days, finishing with the New York City Marathon. As a finale to his incredible achievement, he then ran back from New York City to St. Louis, Missouri, covering nearly 1,300 miles along the way.
A lover of the outdoors, Dean has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. Among his many accomplishments, he has run a 135-mile ultra-marathon across Death Valley in 120-degree-Fahrenheit temperatures, and a marathon to the South Pole in minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Did you know the Bible tells about a prophet that fled 40 days and 40 nights, covering over 1,000 miles on only one meal? “And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God” (1.Kings 19:7,8).
