Marathons for the masses

Once the realm of elite runners with iron constitutions and a taste for pain, marathons have gone mainstream. Training programs, nutrition, well-stocked events and the snowball effect of so many participants has turned the 26.2-mile run into a long jog for the masses.

In 2002, a record-setting 450,000 people completed a U.S. marathon. Of those, 40 percent were first-timers, said Ryan Lamppa, a researcher at U.S.A. Track & Field. Final statistics for 2003 aren't yet in, but Lamppa predicts a 3 percent increase, with even more marathon finishers expected for 2004.

"This growth in the marathon is a social phenomenon," he said, with at least 300 marathons a year nationwide.

Experts have honed their advice, enabling everyday people to train efficiently and with the confidence to finish a marathon.

People of all ages and shapes can get advice from books, the Internet, even friends and co-workers.

"You are going to see any shape you can possibly imagine. You will see 300-pounders out there," said author and runner Jeff Galloway. His writings include several popular running books, including "Marathon: You Can Do It!"

Barbara Mueller said marathons teach lessons about accomplishment while building better health and greater self-esteem. The Cape Girardeau nurse has been a marathon runner since 1987 and often helps first-time runners train.

The difficulty marathon runners face is in finding the time for training. As they progress, they continually add time and distance to their runs. Mueller said it's possible to train for a marathon within three days and still complete it. But the key for all marathons is in setting a reasonable goal.

Beginners need to start slow and add time only in 10 percent increments so that they avoid injury, Mueller said.

More women are joining men in marathon runs. Mueller said running appeals to women for two reasons: it offers them a chance to build self-esteem by completing a task that not everyone can do and it offers them a chance at either solitude or socialization .

Lamppa said a record 40 percent of 2002 marathon finishers in the United States were women.

Forty years ago, marathons were a hardcore fringe event for men.

Galloway, 58, ran his first one in 1963 in Atlanta. Eleven people started, five finished.

"I was hurting for weeks," he said.

Since then, he's run 123 marathons and learned how to make it less painful and more enjoyable, collecting decades of feedback from runners and sharing his ideas in books and marathon clinics.

Erasing the idea that people have to run every step of the way has helped. He advocates frequent one-minute walk breaks because they allow for faster recovery, even faster course times.

"The walk breaks are the single ingredient over the past 45 years of my running experience that has signaled to average people that they really could experience success in training for something like a marathon, and still have a life," Galloway said.

Charities have added motivation and reaped the benefits from marathons that raised funds for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's or arthritis. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society offers coaching, clinics and support through its Team In Training program, said Jeanine Smith, national director of the program.

Marathon courses have improved, too, with plenty of water stops, portable toilets -- even live bands -- almost every mile along the way.

"Any diversion helps when you're falling apart," said Tim Murphy, president of Elite Racing, which organizes Rock 'n' Roll marathons in San Diego and Phoenix and a Country Music Marathon in Nashville.

"It really has turned out to be a 26-mile party," he said.

Smart training helps, too.

Hal Higdon's self-named Web site offers 18-week training schedules for novices and veterans, honed by his experience from running 111 marathons. Higdon, 72, who lives near Chicago, recalls the days when marathon training was so rare that police in some neighborhoods would pull over runners, when a pre-race meal was steak and when marathon courses offered no water.

Nowadays, he said, "everybody's got somebody in the office who's done it."

Features editor Laura Johnston contributed to this report.