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Feeling better this morning.



Jan Denman sent me a link to a neat Olympic site that details the "origin" of the marathon race. I thought I'd share it with you:



"The marathon was never one of the ancient Olympic events, although its origin dates back to another episode in ancient Greek history.



In the 5th century B.C., the Persians invaded Greece, landing at Marathon, a small town about 26 miles from the city of Athens. The Athenian army was seriously outnumbered by the Persian army, so the Athenians sent messengers to cities all over Greece asking for help.



The traditional origin of the marathon comes from the story how a herald named Phidippides ran the 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory and died on the spot. Phidippides was sent by the Athenians to Sparta to ask for help; a man named Eukles announced the victory to the Athenians and then died. Later sources confused the story of Phidippides, also called "Philippides," with that of Eukles. Although most ancient authors do not support this legend, the story has persisted and is the basis for the modern-day marathon.



The modern Olympic marathon is approximately 26 miles and usually takes over 2 hours for athletes to finish."



2 HOURS???? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!



Aloha

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