With the Olympics going on, I can’t help thinking about the last day and the marathon and what a waste of time it is.
The event is named for the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. He died when he got there, probably because he didn’t drink any gatorade.
But even with death as a possibility, they keep running this ridiculous distance. It’s like they got together and said, “What’s the farthest you’ve ever heard of someone running? Let’s do that.”
Note: my extensive research (looking stuff up on google for about 15 minutes) has uncovered the possibility that the story of the origin of the marathon is in doubt…
But even if you go with the story, the original challenge was to get the message delivered over that particular distance.
This is why I think it should be eliminated. The 26 miles 385 yards can now be covered in about 25 minutes with a car, or better yet almost instantly with an email or a phone call. I’m sure our boy Phieidippides would have skipped the run and just faxed it if he had the chance.
