The Real Pheidippides

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Image source: Runner's World

Athenian messenger Pheidippides
Died 30 years before the birth of Thucydides
Most famous hemerodrome day-runner
Ran a 300-mile ultramarathon stunner

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6/24/2022

"Many runners are familiar with the story surrounding the origins of the modern marathon. As the well-worn legend goes, after the badly outnumbered Greeks somehow managed to drive back the Persians who had invaded the coastal plain of Marathon, an Athenian messenger named Pheidippides was dispatched from the battlefield to Athens to deliver the news of Greek victory. After running about 25 miles to the Acropolis, he burst into the chambers and gallantly hailed his countrymen with “Nike! Nike! Nenikekiam” (“Victory! Victory! Rejoice, we conquer!”). And then he promptly collapsed from exhaustion and died. Turns out, however, the story is bigger than that. Much bigger." -"The Real Pheidippides Story" by Dean Karnazes in Runners World