RUNNING INFORMATION ARTICLES

Running History

Humans are born to run. It's just that we use it in more ways than our early ancestors. In the early days, humans ran to hunt down their prey, most of which are faster than they are. Therefore, they had to find the means to catch up with them. But later in history, humans found other uses for the faculty of running and that includes the running competitions we have today. How did these competitions come to be? This section will deal with that and a lot more.

Track Running
Modern organized track running has only been around for less than 200 years but it traces its roots to the old Greek Olympics. The first Greek Olympics was held in 776 BC where the only event held was a foot race. There were other games organized after that including the Roman Games in the Roman Era. However, games at the scale of the Greek Olympics and Roman Games were no longer held after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was only in the 19th century when the track running events started to become really organized. It was especially apparent during the first modern Olympics in 1896.

Cross Country Running
Cross country running, meanwhile, traces its roots in the early 19th century England. Originally known as “paper chase”, this sport used to be a game played by two groups of runners in a randomly chosen trail. The first group drops paper markers across the course while the other group chases the first one by following the paper trail they left behind.

In 1878, the game was introduced to the United States by William C. Vosburg. Although it is initially intended to be a training exercise for track and field events, cross country running eventually became recognized as a sport in its own right. Today, it is a popular sport not only among men, but also among women.

Fell Running
Just like cross country running, fell running originated from England, though it was also played in Scotland and Wales. In Scotland, they were usually held during fairs or highland games. They were held primarily to show the physical abilities of the competitors. From simple events during fairs, its popularity soared during the Victorian times and from there, the modern form of fell running came to be.

Road Running
Of all the road running events, the Marathon is probably the most popular. It is based on the legend of the Greek soldier Pheidippides who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce that they have defeated the Persians and died shortly afterwards. Compared to the other running sports, the marathon as we know it is a relatively new sport. It was organized only during the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Its first winner was a Greek named Spiridon Louis, clocking in 2 hours 58 minutes 50 seconds, which is almost an hour slower than the current record of 2 hours 4 minutes and 55 seconds set by Kenyan Paul Tergat during the 2003 Berlin Marathon.

During the 1896 Olympics, the distance covered by the runners varied greatly from the marathon we know now. It used to be only 40 miles long. However, it changed several times until finally settling to the current distance of 42.195 kilometers.

Despite its popularity, women were not allowed to participate in marathons, with the organizers saying that their bodies wouldn't be able to endure running at such a long distance. However, several women tried to prove that they are capable of running the marathon. During the 1966 Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibb became the first woman to unofficially run the Boston Marathon. A year after that, Katherine Switzer, became the first woman to race with a number in the same marathon event. It turned out that the organizers did not know that she was a woman since she only registered herself as K Switzer. Having realized their mistake, the organizers tried in vain to stop her during the race. After what happened, women were still disallowed to run the marathon. It was only in 1972 when women were allowed to run in the Boston Marathon and in the 1984 Olympics.

Running has been a natural human activity since time immemorial. Today, it is one of the most well-loved lifestyle activities around. Running will not surely lose its appeal to man as it has a lot of advantages. Probably, new variations will be devised by enthusiasts to make running more innovative and challenging that will eventually be added to the history of running.

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