The Battle of Marathon

Being generally curious about history, one of the first things I did when I decided to take on the marathon was to research where on earth the ridiculous idea to run exactly 26.22 miles came from.

The name marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance (26 miles and 386 yards) without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "We have won," before collapsing and dying.

Thankfully, the thought of the marathon literally killing me hasn't really come up in my training; I haven't experienced any worrying symptoms of over-exertion and my doctor declared me fit to start running my guts out. That was until I received a strange email from this year's race director:

Recently, I was talking to our Medical Officer of Health about the causes of deaths after a Marathon - sorry to broach such a morbid subject but as the Race Director and the Executive Director here at St. John Ambulance it is a subject I take very, very seriously. She said one of the main causes was drinking too much water - she is in fact a runner herself.

It went on to describe how, if you ingest too much water without enough sodium, it won't absorb properly and you can actually drink yourself to death, on water. It seems there has been one reported case of this happening, ever, at last year's Boston Marathon. "Try to drink sports drinks with sodium and potassium," the email reasoned, "but also try alternating hot clear chicken broth with water and tomato-based drinks."

Wait, what? Should I arrange to have someone supply me with sports bottles full of piping hot chicken noodle soup and virgin caesars along the route? I think I'll opt for water or Gatorade, thanks.

With the litigious nature of society these days and following a death at the world's biggest marathon, I understand why the race director wanted to raise awareness of the issue. But to seriously suggest ingesting hot broth is the key to not dying? If only someone had told poor Pheidippides.