My First Half Marathon

Today, I completed my first half marathon. The build-up to the race had its ups and downs as the semester has been busier than expected (in a good way), which prevented me from training as much as I would have liked. While I won’t mention my overall pace, crossing the finish line in less than 3 hours made it all worthwhile. This achievement marks my fourth overall race (two 5Ks, one 10K, and now the half marathon). While I’m not much of a runner, I enjoy the sense of achievement knowing that I’m constantly pursuing new goals outside of academia.

Looking back: Since this is a history/linguistics blog, here’s a few notes of interest. The apocryphal origins of marathon running trace back to the legendary story of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, who in 490 BCE was tasked with running from the battlefield of Marathon in Greece to Athens in order to announce the Greek victory against the Persians. He reportedly ran just under 26 miles without stopping, and upon entering the city, he yelled “Nike, nike” (which means victory in Greek) before collapsing and dying from exhaustion. The modern marathon was first introduced during the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 to commemorate the heroic feat of Pheidippides. Fittingly, the event was won by Spyridon (‘Spyros’) Louis (1873-1940), a Greek water carrier and soldier. The modern marathon was subsequently extended and formalized to its current 26.2 mile distance in 1921.

Looking forward: Again, I’m not much of a runner, but I hope to build on my current momentum. Over the next year, I plan to participate in a local run (DC-Maryland-Virginia area) approximately bimonthly. Ideally, over the next 11 months, I would like to complete two or three more 5Ks, two or three more 10Ks, and one 10-miler leading up to next year’s DC Half Marathon. Additionally, my goal for next year’s race is 2 hours and 22 mins. Why? Because that’s the length of the album soundtrack of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original Broadway cast recording for the play Hamilton.

About The Author

Matthew Saunders

Matthew Saunders is a PhD student in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He researches the languages and literatures of the ancient Near East, especially Aramaic Studies, Ugaritic Studies, and Comparative Semitics.

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