Last week we took a look at the origin of the marathon and if you've ever wondered why a marathon is 26.2 miles we highly suggest you take a few minutes to read our blog post about the history of the marathon. As if running 26.2 miles isn't enough some runner's out there are taking the marathon from the streets into weird and unusual places.
For instance, have you ever wondered if you could out run a horse? Introducing, Man versus Horse, where runners compete side by side with horses. What's more incredible is that sometimes the humans win. It's pretty rare but at least 2 times since 1980 the humans have outran the horses. (There are also other races involving horses called ride-n-ties and a circuit of races in the Colorado and other Western States called Burro racing where you run along side a donkey. Alas, those are not 26.2 and do not make the cut for our Weird Marathons).
If racing against horses is not your thing, perhaps you fancy running at 30 degrees below zero, in the North Pole. The race features a 10 lap course, on ice, with a finish line at you guessed it, the North Pole. No word on if you see Santa and his reindeer on the course.
Not convinced you need to sign up for a "weird marathon" yet? We saved the best for last. The Marathon du Monc takes runners through 30 vineyards in France where instead of water breaks they drink wine. Yes, that's right runners are encouraged to imbibe, eat oysters, foie gras, and even have steak tastings while on the run. The only catch is the 6.5 hour time limit.
However or wherever you're running 26.2 it's an incredible feat of human strength. People plucked a story from ancient history and invented a modern race out of it, just to see if they could do it. And so for one subset of people, the ones who crave challenges and shake hands on impossible odds, there are 26.2 miles waving a crooked finger, inviting them to try, to suffer, to see, to run.