So, marathoners may be enjoying a bit of a lull in the negative comment department, but the negativity doesn't ever completely vanish. You know what event doesn't seem to get as much negative attention?
By Kcpwiki (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
If you Google "football safety" or "marathon safety", a long list of articles pops up. You could spend days reading about how football turns you into a brainless zombie and how marathon running will undoubtedly result in knee surgery. However, if you Google "hot dog eating contest safety," the list of relevant articles is minimal. Perhaps it is just so obviously bad for you that nobody wants to waste time warning you about the hazards.
By Nate "Igor" Smith from Brooklyn, NY, USA - http://www.drivenbyboredom.com (Nate "Igor" Smith) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Fair enough. So, are marathoners forcing their bodies to do something so unnatural that it is extremely dangerous? A 2004 paper by Harvard anthropologist Daniel Lieberman and University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble proves that humans are actually incredibly suited to run long distances. We may get killed in the sprinting category by other animals, but the following physical attributes make us queens and kings of the long distance race:
- Long striding legs with spring-like tendons
- Large leg and foot joints allowing us to absorb high forces when running
- Big gluteus maximus muscles and counter-rotating torsos provide stability
- Slow-twitch, fatigue-resistant muscle fibers that aid endurance rather than speed
- Our ability to dissipate body heat because we are comparatively hairless and we sweat like champs.
Why did we evolve such traits? Basically, so that we could eat meat. Isn't that the reason for everything?
Endurance running evolved so that humans could persistence hunt. Early humans would chase after big game during the hottest part of the day, when the prey could not sustain high speeds for very long before overheating and tiring out. This meant that early hunters with very crude weapons could take down large prey by merely outlasting them during the chase. Certain aboriginal people continue persistence hunting to this day with large success rates. Check out this awesome footage:
Incredible, right?? I always feel like I really deserve a meal when I've gone through the process of cooking it all myself. In NYC, you can basically order food anytime, anywhere and get it delivered to your door. I can't imagine how utterly justified I would feel after 8 hours of hunting. So, it seems that long distance running is quite natural. If we hadn't evolved this ability, we might not have continued to evolve to where we are today. We might all be vegetarians! (Gasp!)
(courtesy of my awesome sister)
What kind of world would we live in without ridiculously over-sized burgers??
Or enormous steak dinners?
Well, we know for one thing, this poor guy would be out of a job.
(Adam Richman, host of Man vs. Food, a show which
glorifies the complete opposite of persistence hunting)
I realize that having immediate access to food allowed humans to spend more time thinking and thus evolving, but maybe we would benefit from a little more challenge. I know that if the only way to obtain a pizza was to run it down, I would happily chase it for 8 hours. I'm sure 8 hours of chasing a pizza would be better for my health than 8 hours of binge watching Orange is the New Black (which I may or may not have done this past Saturday).
But, I digress. . .
As everything in life, marathon running definitely has its hazards. It should be undertaken carefully and with proper supervision. But, by no means is it unnatural for humans to run long distances. So, kudos to all of you past, present and future marathoners. Run, humans, run!
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