NYC Marathon & Yoga for Runners

Today I had the privilege to watch amazing people run the New York City Marathon. They ran right by my house so I bundled myself up, bought a nice hot latte and stood on the corner of 138th and 5th avenue with hundreds of others to cheer the runners on - at this point they had 21 miles behind them and slightly more than 5 miles to go. I shivered for the runners as they passed by shirtless or wearing little more than a sports bra and underwear.
Amongst the serious runners were scattered interesting characters like Minnie Mouse, a member of Kiss, a swan, a man dressed in a neon pink one piece, a basketball player with a huge afro and probably many more if I had stayed until the end. It was great to see such a diversity of people running but also cheering - people from all walks of life showed up united by the display of such incredible stamina.

A marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195 kilometers. The name comes from a event that took place in 490BC after the Battle of Marathon. A Greek messenger, Pheidippides, was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce the victory over the Persians. The story goes that Pheidippides ran the entire way without rest and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, 'We have won.') before collapsing and dying.

To avoid death, the runners generally go through some pretty rigorous training. Although I have absolutely no intention of attempting their exploits, yoga does offer some choice exercises/stretches for runners. Here's a video:



Congratulations to all NYC Marathon participants.

Namaste!


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References:
Wikipedia. Marathon.[On line 11/07/2010] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon