How long was your marathon?

August 10th, 2010

I have a colleague who regularly asks me about my marathons after races. I’m sure many runners have experienced this from friends, family and coworkers. I’ve told my friend a couple of times that I don’t run marathons, that I mostly do 5km and 10km races with the odd half thrown in. I was at pains to correct her because I was worried that she thought I was a more impressive runner than I actually am. But eventually, she corrected me. She said that she didn’t really care about the distinction and that she thought completing any race was pretty cool. She also added that she was unlikely to register this new information (gotta love the honesty). This didn’t annoy me in the slightest and it still doesn’t.

Whenever I mosy over to forums on running websites, which can be frequently depending on what work I’m trying to avoid, there is always some discussion thread berating the media or members of the general public who have the audacity to ask how long the runner’s marathon was or who state that so-and-so ran a 10K marathon. The outrage fairly drips down the screen.

Sample comment: “Is there a hotline to call for the abuse/ misuse of the word MARATHON which is technically 42.195km in distance? LOL!”

The way I see it is that lots of people use the term “marathon” as a synonym for the word “race”. For a lot of non-runners, every race, whether it’s a 5K, 10K, 26.2 miler or ultra gets labeled “marathon” in their minds. And the fact is the term “marathon” has entered common parlance and is used to describe anything that is ridiculously long, painful and intense: office meetings, dinners with extended family, the NHL playoffs. It’s not particularly surprising that the word gets misused. And let’s be honest: the distance of 42.195km, though it has a rich and interesting history, is fairly arbitrary.

I guess the question I would like to ask runners who complain that people should know that a marathon is 26.2 miles by definition is whether they can tell me the difference between a triple axel and a triple Salchow. I assume that runners who get their knickers in their twist over people who misdefine marathon understand and are conversant with the terms of golf, hockey, figure skating, soccer, football, baseball, basketball, cricket, curling, rugby, tennis and volleyball, given that these are all popular Canadian sports. I for one, can’t tell a Birdey from a Bogey when it comes to golf (or is that cricket?). Although I’m not religious, I suggest that runners judge not lest we be judged. The next time I’m congratulated on the successful completion of another marathon, I’ll just smile and be glad that the person cares enough to ask.

Any strong feelings out there about the misuse of the word marathon? What do you when someone asks you about your 5K marathon?

8 Responses to “How long was your marathon?”

Kirsty Says:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:53 am
I have to say that I never use to think about the misuse of the word ‘marathon’ until I ran one and realized the training and dedication it takes to complete one. Now I am quite conscious of the use/misuse of the word and make a point of correcting people when they talk about a 5K/10K marathon.

I don’t expect people to ‘just know’ that a marathon is 42.195km, because chances are I don’t ‘just know’ the correct terminology of their favourite sport or pass time.

I guess the thing is, if I were talking about their sport or pass time and used incorrect terminology I would expect them to correct me. How else am I supposed to learn?

When I went to get a tattoo to commemorate running my first marathon, one of the artist in the shop told me that his brother was training for a marathon that was coming up. When I inquired about which marathon it was, I was told “The TC10K next weekend”. I politely corrected him and let him know that a 10K was a 10K and a marathon was ‘42.2′ and that’s what I was having tattooed on my foot.

I dedicated 10 months of my life to training to run my first marathon & I want credit for the whole 42.2km. I don’t want it confused with a race of any length.

In my experience, when you explain to someone the difference, they are appreciative of the new knowledge, and develop a better respect for exactly what it is to run a marathon.
EndorphinBuzz Says:
August 10th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I agree that races of any distance are worthy of praise but the extra ordinary effort and dedication required to successfully complete a Marathon is something else. I always get frustrated when I hear there is a TV series Marathon because I feel it cheapens and disrespect the difficult life choices I make to be a Marathon runner…
Dana Menard Says:
August 10th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Thank you Kirsty and EndorphinBuzz. Your points are well-taken. I agree that comparing the preparation and training necessary for a 5km (for instance) to a marathon might be invalidating. I definitely agree with that perspective. Although on the other hand, this does beg the question as to whether a non-runner can really, REALLY understand what it takes to prepare for a long-distance run. I know that as a knitter, people rarely understand how much works goes into creating a garment unless they themselves knit.

I think my problem is that often, these comments about the marathon distance are framed as: “What kind of moron doesn’t know a marathon is 26.2 miles?” And that’s where I think certain runners are being a little arrogant and potentially giving the rest of us a bad name.
Amy Says:
August 10th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Dana, I agree with you. Come on EndorphinBuzz, “difficult life choices”? You should get over yourself and be grateful that the most difficult choice you have to make is whether or not to train for a marathon. As a friend of mine (and loyal follower of this blog) would say sarcastically, “it is soooo difficult to be saddled with first-world problems”. I respectfully implore you to gain some perspective.
Karen Karnis Says:
August 10th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
I don’t mind that people don’t know how far a marathon is – doesn’t bother me in the least. However, the habit of tacking the word “marathon” onto other distances (e.g. the whole “5K marathon” thing) does drive me nuts, but probably more from a grammar perspective than a runner perspective. To me, it is incorrect in the same way as saying “tuna cow” as opposed to “tuna fish” (although adding the word fish after tuna is still redundant in my mind…like saying “PIN Number” which is the equivalent of “Personal Identification Number Number”).

I say all of this tongue-in-cheek of course, and only because you asked
Elbows Says:
August 11th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Karen, I definitely understand from the grammar nerd perspective (have you discovered the Grammar Girl Podcast?), but I think this isn’t quite the same thing. Particularly with something like a “movie marathon”. It’s a common way to use the word and not incorrect. It if definitely incorrect to call a 5km a marathon, but to non-runners (and particularly the generally sendentary) it is all long and it all takes a lot of work. If anything, I think putting the word “marathon” on such a pedestal belittles everyone who is working really hard to run whatever distance they are running.

I also second Amy (and may have been paraphrased in her comment). Everyone freely chooses to run and running is for personal benefit, so you are lucky to be able to make that decision for yourself.
maarbour Says:
August 11th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
I think that when marathon runners use the word “marathon” to describe a race ran for sport they cheapen and disrespect the difficult life choice made by the potentially apocryphal Pheidippides. He ran 240 km in two days between Marathon and Sparta to ask the Spartans for assistance in fighting the invading Persians, and then 40 km from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory – falling dead after delivering his message.
Mr. Shuffler Says:
August 12th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
He would have been fine if he’d simply had some Gatorade. When will those hard-core Greeks learn? I agree completely that a marathon is a marathon, and never should be used to refer to a 5 K. But I think any sense of anger towards those making the error is misplaced. After all a marathon is only about 8 time slonger than a 5 K, while a 5 K is an infinite multiplier of 0k, the distance many people who refer to all races as marathons have run. To them, 5 K probably does seem like a huge endurance test, and so the confusion is understandable. Likewise, all runners should be proud of their distances and paces, simply by getting out there you are a testament to the human spirit to cause yourself pain, suffering, discomfort, thirst, body rashes, and blisters to the awe of humanity and for the greater glory of…well…

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How long was your marathon?