Marathon
Whatever the historian said and wrote, the modern marathon started with the concept of modern Olympics and Michel Bréa was the first man who gave the idea of modern marathon in Athens Olympics in 1896. Initially, the distance was not fixed and there were no specifications of running tracks but later on the distance requirements and tracks specifications and other running rules were set.
Nowadays, the running distance is approximately between 40 to 45 kilometers and the time duration is approximately 4 to 4.5 hours as mostly professional runners take 3 to 4 hours to cover such distances. Running a marathon and completing it to the finish line is definitely a hard job but it can only be achieved through proper training and strong determination. There are many platforms for professional runners and causal runners. Many training and coaching centers are there where a runner can get full training, tips, strategies and diet schedules. Marathon running is full of passion and is enjoyable game. It has many qualities such as the strength training, the power, the passion, strong determination, competition and healthy environment.
Most runners do not take part for victory. They want to take part as to examine their power and determination with respect to their age and weight. They want to enjoy the whole running event, competitive environment and much more. It is due to the popularity of game that it is played in almost every part of the world and even in third world countries it is played and is appreciated by different groups of people. There are many associations who sponsor and organize these marathon races but the international governing body of marathon is Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) which is the largest international governing body for marathon and almost 800 marathon races are registered in its circle. The organization was founded in 1982 and now it has 82 member countries where it held different marathon races. AIMS also award a prize of 500,000 USD for the year best male and female runner. The whole world has a craze of marathon and it is being played in almost all parts of the world. The most famous and biggest marathons are described as under:
1. Paris marathon is one of most famous annual long distance running event of Europe stared since 1896. A distance of 40 kilometers was selected which is started from Champs-Élysées heading and end at Foch Avenue through the Place de la Concorde.
2. Budapest marathon is the annual long distance running event of Budapest city in Hungary, the annual marathon continued from 1984. The Buda pest city is very famous for its historical monuments with seven bridges and three hill station.
3. Krakow marathon is now a popular event of Krakow city or Carcow city of Poland. It was started in 2002 first time. Krakow is very old city full of historical monument and culture centre of Poland.
Other most famous annual long distance running events of Europe include London marathon, Berlin marathon and Rome marathon.
Marathons are also very famous in United State; almost every state organizes marathon races every year. Most famous marathons include San Francisco marathon which is held annually since 1917, the running starts form Ferry Building and finishes at golden gate park. Shamrock marathon is very famous annual running event of Virginia Beach; it is not meant only for adult runner but it has separate category for children as well. Country music marathon is a famous annual running event of Nashville (Tennessee). It started in year 2000 and players taking part in this event can qualify for Boston marathon. Twin city marathon is another famous annual long distance running event started in 1992. Other annual famous American local running events include flying pig marathon which is very popular among people, St. Louis marathon which is the heart going event and cow town marathon all of them are held on different dates during the year.
