THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MARATHONS

MARATHONS WERE INSTITUTED IN COMMEMORATION

OF GREEK RUNNER PHIDIPPIDES. HE RAN 26 MILES

FROM THE BATTLEFIELD ON THE PLAINS OF

MARATHON TO DELIVER A MESSAGE TO ATHENS.

HE COLLAPSED SHORTLY AFTER AND DIED

SUNITA WILLIAMS, AN ASTRONAUT, RAN AN ENTIRE

MARATHON ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH HER SISTER WHO WAS

RUNNING IN THE BOSTON MARATHON

SISTER MADONNA BUDER HAS COME TO BE KNOWN

AS THE IRON NUN AS SHE HAS RUN OVER 325

TRIATHLONS AND BECAME THE OLDEST PERSON

TO EVER COMPLETE THE IRONMAN AT 82 YEARS OLD

PAULA RADCLIFFE WON THE 2005 LONDON

MARATHON EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD TO STOP ON

THE SIDE OF THE ROAD DUE TO "RUNNER'S DIARRHEA"

FAUJA SINGH, A 100 YEAR OLD BRITISH INDIAN

CITIZEN, BECAME THE OLDEST PERSON TO EVER

COMPLETE A MARATHON IN 2011

IN SOME MARATHONS THERE IS A SWEEPER BUS

THAT COMES ALONG AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF

TIME TO PICK UP THOSE WHO ARE STILL ON THE TRACK

1 IN 50,000 PEOPLE WILL DIE OF A HEART ATTACK

WITHIN 24 HOURS OF COMPLETING A MARATHON

CLIFF YOUNG WAS A 61 YEAR OLD WHO WON

AUSTRALIA'S 544 MILE SYDNEY-MELBOURNE

ENDURANCE RACE BECAUSE HE RAN STRAIGHT

THROUGH THE NIGHT WHILE THE OTHER

ATHLETES SLEPT

BRITISH EXPLORER AND ADVENTURER SIR RANULPH

FIENNES RAN 7 MARATHONS IN 7 DAYS ON 7

DIFFERENT CONTINENTS IN SPITE OF HAVING

HAD A HEART ATTACK JUST SEVERAL

MONTHS BEFORE