Bill also has some of the best quotes about running, including:

I always say if the marathon is a part-time interest, you will only get part-time results.

To be a consistent winner means preparing not just one day, one month or even one year – but for a lifetime.

My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble.

And perhaps most important:

You cannot always run at your best.

Yes, even the legendary runner Bill Rodgers had his bad running days. Unlike many less successful runners, he did not let these bad days define him.

Runners can gain even more running inspiration from Bill’s brand new book, Marathon Man: My 26.2-Mile Journey from Unknown Grad Student to the Top of the Running World. This book is an excellent choice for those planning to lower their running times this year.

Image courtesy of Sports Illustrated

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Prior to uniting as the Kingdom of Hawaii under the Hawaiian king Kamehameha, Hawaii was made up of multiple chiefdoms. Sources tell how these chiefs relied on swift young men called kukini acted as messengers, spies, food transporters, and ran down stray goats and other animals. These elite athletes negotiated rocky and steep trails to serve their chiefs. Every year, the kukini would compete against each other at the annual Hawaiian new year festival called Makahiki.

The idea of the kukini is so popular that Nike has named of its shoes models after these swift ancient runners. The book Hawaiian Mythology re-tells many legends passed down from ancient Hawaiians of exceptional runners. Some of these stories are amazing considering that these runners did not have the modern technology that runners enjoy today.

For example, Ulua-nui was a famous runner who, it was told, could catch a fish in the town of Kailua on the east shore of of the island of Oahu, run to Waialua on the north shore, and then finish his trip at Waikiki on the south shore so quickly that the fish would still be wriggling. This is a distance of approximately 80 miles.

Ancient Hawaiians were the ultimate ultra marathon runners. For example, the great runner Kalamea could run around Maui in a day, Pakui could circle Oahu six times in a day, Ku-hele-moana and Keakea-lani could circle Oahu twelve times in a day; Kama-a-ka-mikioi and Kama-aka-ulu-ohia could run around the island of Kauai 10 times in a day.

Obviously, these tales are extremely exaggerated. Oahu, for example, is about 110 miles in circumference. Running 12 times around Oahu in one day is simply not possible. However, these legends show the tremendous regard that the ancient hawaiians had for the elite runners. Much like Paul Bunyan or George Washington and the cherry tree, the oral tradition of Hawaii passed down the feats of their running heroes from generation to generation.

Before we assume that the runners of the present day are the best in the history of the world, we should keep in mind that many other amazing runners have run on the same ground on which we run hundreds and thousands of years ago.

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Anton’s blog is called Riding the Wind. Throughout the blog, he posts his daily and weekly training mileage. Out of curiosity, I reviewed his weekly mileage in the four months leading up to the race, which was: 197, 208, 167, and 184. The entries for some of the days during this stretch are just amazing and hardly seem possible. For example, on May 27th, he ran 25 miles in the morning and 8 miles in the evening. Wow! Perhaps even more incredible is that he ran 184 miles in the week before one of the most important races of the year.

Even though Anton’s weekly mileage totals are staggering and obviously worked for him, I just don’t know if they would be beneficial for all runners. Most experts seem to agree that high mileage is good, but there is a point at which it can have diminishing returns. In my personal running history, I have run much better races at 70-75 miles a week than when I was trying to run 90-100 miles a week. I could feel my body start to break down past 100 miles and invariably became injured.

The bottom line is that having a high mileage training program is essential for developing the heart and lungs and teaching the body to burn fat. However, it is important not to get sucked into the idea that more mileage always means faster race times. As evidence of this, I took a look at the log of the winner of this year’s Western States, Geoff Roes. Geoff’s weekly mileage leading up to the race was: 93, 89, 109, and 63. These totals are basically half of what Anton ran, but Geoff ran faster on race day. Obviously, Geoff’s inherent running talent probably has a lot to do with that, but the fact remains that relatively small mileage did not prevent him from winning the race.

Therefore, keep a simple rule in mind: Even through it is tempting to compare your training totals with other runners, a runner must confidence in his or her own training plan, focus on high quality workouts over simple quantity, and listen to the body.

Photo courtesy of Richard Webb

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The Inca designed a complex series of roads and bridges throughout the mountainous terrain of the Andes. Along this road were a number of small huts, called Tambos, which had food and water. Each Tambo was manned by very fit runners, called Chasquis, who would run from one Tambo to another, delivering messages in a massive relay. Chasquis were unbelievably athletic and could relay a message at speeds of 200 miles per day. Because of the quickness of these runners, a message could be sent over 1000 miles in less than a week.

The equipment used by the Chasquis was minimal and designed to be light so that running would be easy. First, the runners carried a “quipu,” which consisted of a series of knotted cords that could be used to store information. The specific colors of the cords, the knots on the cords, and how the cords were connected all served as an ingenious way to encode information. For example a certain number of chickens might be recorded on red strings while a number of cows might be recorded on green strings. Second, the Chasquis carried a a “qipi,” which was a lightweight container that could hold objects that were to be delivered across the empire. Finally, the runners carried a special conch shell trumpet, called a “pututu,” which they blew when they arrived at their destination. The trumpet let everyone know that there was a message or object waiting to be delivered.

The speed, efficiency, and work ethic of the Chasquis was amazing. To think that these runners, combined, could relay messages at speeds of 200 miles a day in some of the mountainous terrain in the world is just incredible. It certainly was a proud moment in the history of running when an entire empire relied solely on runners.

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This story was repeated throughout antiquity and survived to the modern day. In the late 20th century, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin had the idea of reviving the ancient Olympic Games of Greece. The original Olympics, which had started in 776 B.C., had not taken place since 393 A.D. when the Roman Emperor Theodosius outlawed them.

It was decided that the first modern Olympics would be held in 1896, nearly 1500 years after the final ancient Olympics, the first modern Games would also take place at their original home – Athens, Greece. In honor of the great runner Pheidippides, the final event of these modern Games would be the “marathon” race – a foot race from Marathon to Athens.

Because of the pride that the modern Greek people had in the story of the run of Pheidippides and their role in founding the ancient Olympics, the marathon race was a very important event for them – it was also their last chance to win an Olympic medal. After 2 hours and 58 minutes of racing, they got their wish as Greek runner Spiridon Louis won the race by over seven minutes.

Although there was only one American runner in the race, the United States public became fascinated with the idea of the “marathon.” This interest was so great that, one year later in 1897, the first Boston Marathon was run, which was the first official marathon in the United States. The growth in popularity of the marathon in the last 115 years has been astounding, and a tribute to the powerful story of Pheidippides and the human desire to challenge their minds and bodies in this great test of endurance.

Photo courtesy of Tetraktys

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Surprisingly, cross country has been run at the Olympics in the past. There were cross country races in 1912, 1920, and 1924. However, the sport was dropped from the 1928 games because organizers felt that it was not “suitable” for summer competition. The impetus was that more than half of the runners in the 1924 race dropped out due to unusually hot weather and poisonous fumes from a nearby factory.

Since those Games, cross country has been proposed as a possible addition to the Olympic program, but rejected multiple times. The primary reason appears to be fear of diluting the track distance races. Some has floated the idea of including cross country running in the Winter Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee has consistently stated that Winter Olympic events must be competed on ice or snow. However, that might not be a problem.

When asked in 2009 about including cross country in the Olympic Games, Lamine Diack, who is president of the IAAF, stated, “The IOC have now written to us to ask our advice and we have told them that we are in favor of it. We are prepared to organize cross country in the Winter Olympics. It would be a good move for our sport.” There you have it – cross country might get in as a Winter Olympic sport. Therefore, it appears that there might actually be a cross country race in the 2014 Olympics. Sounds like the world’s best runners better start training in snowshoes.

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One of the most interesting Ernst stories is his run from Paris to Moscow in 1832. This run was the result of Ernst’s 100,000 francs bet that he could run from Paris to Moscow in 15 days, a distance of 1,660-miles. In order to win the bet, Ernst would have to run over 110 miles per day.

Ernst would soon arrive in Moscow with 1 day to spare. Over the course of his 14 day run, he had covered nearly 120 miles, about 4.5 marathons, per day!

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The New York City Marathon is this Sunday, November 1. The marathon has had so many amazing runners. Athletes like Bill Rodgers, Grete Waitz, Alberto Salazar, Paula Radcliffe, Martin Lel, and Paul Tergat have produced some of the most incredible performances that the world has ever seen. However, one of the most infamous runners in the history of the New York City Marathon was Rosie Ruiz.

Most remember Ruiz for her “win” at the 1980 Boston Marathon in which she jumped into the race during the last mile and was crossed the line before the legitimate winner Jacqueline Gareau. Thanks to Ruiz’s cheating, her time was 25 minutes faster than the Marathon she ran a few months earlier, the New York City Marathon. It was this race in New York that became one of the key pieces of circumstantial evidence that led officials to believe that she had cheated.

After officials began an investigation into Ruiz’s Boston Boston race, a freelance photographer named Susan Morrow, came forward and alleged that Ruiz had also cheated in the New York City Marathon. Morrow stated that she saw Ruiz on the subway during the New York race. Morrow claimed that, after exiting the subway, Ruiz went to the finishing area and identified herself as an runner who had just finished the race. Her statements convinced the medics to mark her down as having completed the race in a Boston Marathon qualifying time.

Thanks to Morrow’s testimony, officials became convinced that Ruiz was a serial cheater and formerly disqualified her first place finish. As a result of Ruiz’s performances at Boston and New York, major marathons became to use video surveillance, chip timing, and checkpoints to ensure that all runners run the entire course.

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As to drinking, there is one cardinal rule – you must drink as little as you can get along with even of water. You don’t want to swallow anything that is fattening, and even water has a tendency that way…I don’t say that an athlete who has overexerted himself should not take a glass of brandy. It will act as a stimulant, and will be all the more effective because he is not accustomed to it. Beer, ale and stout are the only safe drinks for an athlete. They are not only harmless, when used with moderation, but they are positively beneficial.

I’m pretty sure that this is the first time I’ve heard water described as “fattening”

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