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By Richard Benyo, Jonathan Beverly, and Mark Conover © 1998. 42K(+) Press, Inc. "The Three Stages of the Marathon" originally appeared in the September/October 1998 issue of Marathon & Beyond, and is reprinted here with permission of 42K(+) Press, Inc.. For information about reprinting or excerpting this article or any other M&B article, contact Jan Seeley via email or by calling (217) 359-9345. Marathon & Beyond is the only bimonthly magazine for marathoners and ultrarunners. "THE MARATHON," Frank Shorter once said, "is half over at 20 miles." Serious marathoners agree that the marathon begins as a diehard race at the 18- to 20-mile point; the journey to that point is just that: a journey to a battlefield where the runner confronts the remaining distance and his or her own soul. Although what occurs after 20 miles is of extreme importance to the outcome of the race, the condition in which you arrive at the battleground has a profound effect upon the outcome. If you consider the physiology and tactics of marathoning, the race breaks down into three segments:
We've asked three sub-3-hour marathoners to run you through the three stages of the marathon, and it is no mere coincidence that as you move from stage 1 to stage 2 to stage 3, the lower the writer's PR.
About the Authors: Richard Benyo was executive editor of Runner's World magazine from 1977 to 1984. He is a full-time writer with 16 books to his credit, all in the areas of fitness, health, and sports. He's run 37 marathons, and in 1989 he and running partner Tom Crawford became the first athletes in history to run from Badwater in Death Valley (the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and the hottest and driest spot on earth) to the peak of Mt. Whitney (at 14,494 feet, the highest point in the contiguous United States) and back, a distance of 300 miles. Rich enjoyed the experience so much that he returned to the course in 1991 and 1992 but has since seen the error of his ways. Jonathan Beverly has been running since he was a freshman cross-country runner in Maine 20 years ago. The marathon has fascinated him from the beginning, luring him into skipping track his junior year to run the inaugural Maine Coast Marathon. After several years away from the event, Jonathan has now run 13 marathons, with a PR of 2:46:04 set at Pittsburgh this year. He coaches in Bob Glover's running classes at the New York Road Runners Club and writers regularly for running publications. In his "day job" Jonathan manages international student programs at New York University. Mark Conover has been a runner for 23 years. Along the way, he was a California state high school track meet medalist in the two miles in 1978 and an Olympic Trials Marathon winner in 1988. Mark's most cherished accomplishment came in 1996 when he ran in the Olympic Trials Marathon after a two-year battle with Hodgkin's Disease. Mark coaches runners of all abilities via e-mail (mconover@slonet.org) or phone (805/541 2833) and is the assistant track and cross-country coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Mark is also involved in raising funds for Leukemia research. Have you got a human interest story about a runner you know or a race report to share ? ontherunevents.com is happy to share stories like this with our readers. Send us your stories, your experiences!
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