Have you ever wondered where the phrase "Go the Extra Mile" comes from? Strap yourselves in for an enlightening ride back thousands of years ago, as we unearth the true origins of this enduring idiom. We take a time machine to ancient Greece, stop in the era of the Roman empire, briefly check out the first Olympics, and flash forward to talk modern day ultra races.
If you’re not too tired from this trip we grab a pair of running shoes to sprint into the history of endurance athletes. From figuratively going the extra mile to literally going the extra mile we will leave no fun fact unexplored!
This episode has history, politics, religion, science, and humor all wrapped up in one! So lace up your shoes get ready for a marathon of an episode!
Show References
Born to Run: a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Ever Seen – Christopher McDougall
Audio Book
Choosing to Run: A Memoir – Des Linden
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds – David Goggins
Interact with us at myunoriginalthoughtpodcast@gmail.com.
What did you like and what would you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic, something I missed or didn’t get right, or if you want to be featured in a future What the Idiom? segment let me know.
SWAG!
Looking for My Unoriginal Thought post its, notebooks, coffee mugs? Look no farther!
Click here for awesome swag!
Have you ever wondered where the phrase "Go the Extra Mile" comes from? Strap yourselves in for an enlightening ride back thousands of years ago, as we unearth the true origins of this enduring idiom. We take a time machine to ancient Greece, stop in the era of the Roman empire, briefly check out the first Olympics, and flash forward to talk modern day ultra races.
If you’re not too tired from this trip we grab a pair of running shoes to sprint into the history of endurance athletes. From figuratively going the extra mile to literally going the extra mile we will leave no fun fact unexplored!
This episode has history, politics, religion, science, and humor all wrapped up in one! So lace up your shoes get ready for a marathon of an episode!
Show References
Born to Run: a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Ever Seen – Christopher McDougall
Audio Book
Choosing to Run: A Memoir – Des Linden
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds – David Goggins
Interact with us at myunoriginalthoughtpodcast@gmail.com.
What did you like and what would you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic, something I missed or didn’t get right, or if you want to be featured in a future What the Idiom? segment let me know.
SWAG!
Looking for My Unoriginal Thought post its, notebooks, coffee mugs? Look no farther!
Click here for awesome swag!
Let's blast some. Presidente, hello podcast family, this is your unoriginal host, afton Jay, and I'm happy to be hanging out with you wherever you are today. Let's get into the intellectual journey we're about to go on together. As always, none of what we'll talk about today is my original thoughts, but I will attempt to repackage other people's original ideas and talk through them so we can learn and laugh together. I'm going to try to bring you the most interesting useless knowledge in the most thought-provoking and entertaining way. I know how, okay, let's do this. Today's episode is Go the Extra Mile.
Speaker 1:You're scrolling through TikTok, watching endless motivational videos that encourage you to go the extra mile. Keep going. Video after video is telling you you can push harder, do more, be better. Today, to go the extra mile means to go above and beyond what is expected or to make a bigger effort than is required. It can also be a compliment as to say that someone has gone the extra mile, acknowledging when someone puts forth more effort than is expected. But why do we say this to each other? Why exactly one mile? A mile seems like a really long way to go. Where does it even come from? It's time for our favorite game. What the Idiom. Let's start with our first unsuspecting friend. Where do you think the origin of the phrase Go the Extra Mile comes?
Speaker 2:from Olympic running, like as the sport when it first got started. I don't know like Olympic coaches pushing their athletes to like push past their limits and just push for like one more mile, that's a good guess, though it's totally a good guess.
Speaker 1:It comes from like way. Way before the first Olympics, we had a lot of people guess that this idiom comes from Olympic races. You would be shocked to find out that it actually started thousands of years earlier.
Speaker 3:I would assume from Greek days something to do with surrounding the marathon and how people had to go the extra mile to run the 26.2 back and forth between the original marathon.
Speaker 1:Fun fact, the original marathon was not 26.2 miles.
Speaker 3:Oh, really, are you going to talk about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, ration times was the second most guessed answer. Many think that the marathon was started in Greece and that it was 26.2 miles, but this is historically inaccurate. It's not the correct answer, but it is very interesting. We'll take a deeper dive into this topic later in the episode. Let's see if our final friend can get us closer to a correct answer.
Speaker 5:I believe it's biblical, where it's sort of like the turn the other cheek parable, where someone you know, if someone slaps you, you turn the other cheek. If someone wants to go a mile with you in some type of conflict, you go another mile with them.
Speaker 1:You are 100% correct. It was Jesus' sermon on the mount.
Speaker 5:Dang baby.
Speaker 4:Nailed it.
Speaker 1:Impressive. There are several different types of idioms phrases, prose proverbs and sayings we'll talk about on the show, and I'll always try to be correct in my terminology. But for all of you English and language masters out there, feel free to correct me or pardon me if I'm not always 100% right. The term going the extra mile is an idiom. Merriam Webster defines an idiom as an expression in the usage of a language that is particular to itself, having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meaning of its elements. Simply put, an idiom is a phrase used commonly in a language or culture that means something different than how it literally sounds. Examples bite the bullet, let it in the cat, out of the bag, etc. Shameless plug. We'll be talking about these and more in future episodes, so tune in. This idiom comes from Jesus himself. Wait, the answer is Jesus. I didn't know that either. This idiom's history is super interesting and it's a mix of history, law, religion and politics. We're about to go down a rabbit hole of information, so stay with me. I think you're going to get some really great fun facts out of this one if you can keep up.
Speaker 1:There are several versions of this verse because of the different translations, among Bibles and religions, but the message is always the same. The phrase is derived from the New Testament, in the book of Matthew 5, verse 41,. Jesus says whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. Let me set the stage for you so you can better understand what it's like back under Roman rule and what Jesus is trying to say. Let's take a mental field trip. I'm taking you back to 30 AD. Ad stands for Anno Domini, latin for in the year of our Lord, while BC stands for Before Christ.
Speaker 1:The idea to count years from the birth of Jesus was first proposed by a Christian monk, standardized under the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The system was spread throughout Europe and the Christian world during the centuries that followed. In other episodes we have used CE, which stands for Common or Current Era, while BCE stands for Before the Common or Current Era. These abbreviations date from at least the early 1700s. They became more widespread in the later part of the 20th century, replacing BC and AD in a number of fields, notably science and academia. We will be using BC and AD, since we're talking about Jesus. Okay, so 30 AD, we're going. We're all in Tokas, in the middle of the Roman Empire. You look around, you see the Colosseum. Everyone's writing around in cards and it's super busy and a little smelly, remember indoor plumbing's.
Speaker 1:Not a thing yet, eww. To really get you in the moment, I have to give you some history, which starts with a lot of different Caesars. The name Caesar always confused me, because everyone's named Caesar for like 200 years. Why are there so many Caesars? Long story short, the name Caesar was a Cogniment, which is the name for a clan or surname, like Smith, jones or Brown. Eventually, the name Caesar becomes a Cogniment of the royal family members and their bloodline.
Speaker 1:Julius Caesar, the most famous and the start of the important Caesars, was a military leader and he was critical to the expansion of the Roman Empire. He eventually gained absolute power of Rome and proclaimed himself a dictator in perpetuity After his assassination. Augustus Caesar he is the second Caesar takes over and assumes the Caesar as an Agnomen, which is a name to signify a secession or a title rather than just a Cogniment. The title is elevated to use only for Roman emperors. During the time of the Roman emperors, they are also seen as divine. After Julius Caesar's assassination, the Senate declared him a god, and thus the tradition was born that emperors were derived from God. So here we are Augustus Caesar is the emperor of Rome. It is recorded that Augustus Caesar is now called the quote son of God, who was the great quote savior of the whole earth and he could bring quote peace to Rome. Ironic that at the same time, jesus is also born and the announcement of his birth is in direct opposition to Augustus Caesar's claim. The Bible calls this in religio-political opposition to the emperor. This is a fancy way of telling you that Jesus and Caesar aren't cool and there is a lot of contention, which is real, and it is the theme throughout Jesus's life. So Augustus Caesar dies in 1480. Tiberius Caesar. Augustus takes over from 14 to 37 AD. Do you see why this is so confusing? Almost the exact same name. We're going to call him Tiberius Caesar, the third Caesar. We eventually end up having 12 Caesars, but our story of Jesus, the Mount, the Jews and the Go, the Extra Mile rule all start to come together around the time of Tiberius Caesar. Now we understand the many Caesars. Let's talk about what it's like to live in Rome and some of the politics that are going on. Okay, stay with me. Here's a flashback. We're heading a little bit farther back in time to better understand why the Jews are in the Roman Empire In 63 BC, julius Caesar, the first Caesar and the Romans conquered Judea, the land of the Jews.
Speaker 1:Rome immediately recognized it had a problem because the Jews refused to pay homage to Roman gods. Rome gave in and exempted the Jews from this requirement. Rome did this in part because the Jews had helped the Roman general, julius Caesar, win an important battle several years earlier. Soon, rome recognized that Judaism was a legal religion. They allowed the Jews to worship freely. They were allowed to live in Rome because the religion was long established. Rome wanted to keep Judea from revolting.
Speaker 1:However, due to political and religious differences between the Romans and Jewish people, there's always contention between them, and this is part of the Roman mindset. The big takeaways is that the Romans rule in the cities in which the Jews live, and it's very combative for everybody during this time. So what's it like to live in this time? Tiberius Caesar issues strict taxes and uses the money to fund his military, for building expansion projects and for overall imperial control. The goal was to spread the Roman Empire as far as they could. The Romans worshiped their own gods, such as Jupiter, juno and Mars, some of which are actually adopted from Greek gods Zeus is now Jupiter, hera now Juno, aries was now Mars, etc. You can see how the pagan religion is in conflict to the Jewish faith. At this time, jewish people have protected rights. However, during this time it's really bad for them and this is the time frame in which our idiom takes place. Okay, so now we know there's a lot of Caesars, the Romans, the Jews no one gets along.
Speaker 1:The Romans rule the Empire, so they create the laws in which everyone lives by. We have to understand Roman law to better understand why Jesus is talking about one of the laws in the Sermon on the Mount. Around the year 509 BC, rome becomes a republic. That means some citizens can vote for their leaders and other important matters. Only Roman citizens, which did not include most Jews, could cast votes. Roman women were also not allowed to cast votes. If this historical fact makes you as offended as I am right now, just stop to think that in the United States, women did not get the vote until the passing of the 19th Amendment in August 1920. It took thousands of years for all of us to get equal voting rights. Think about that. Anyway, I digress.
Speaker 1:The Romans had strict rules around the Empire to control its citizens. The 12 tablets were the first Roman code of law. It was written to clarify the rules of the land. The Plebeians, or the ordinary people, put pressure on the Senate to do this to represent their interests, but it also highly benefited the aristocrats and the priests. Does this sound familiar? It should. Roman law and democracy is a model followed by many civilizations, including the United States.
Speaker 1:The laws dealt with legal procedures, debt, family relations, property and other matters of public and sacred law.
Speaker 1:Here are some of those rules If a person insults or gossips about another person publicly, the person who did the insulting or gossiping shall be clubbed to death. If a person who is called to be a witness in court lies, he shall be thrown from a cliff. If a person injures another person physically, he will be injured in the same way, unless he agrees to pay for damages. If you need a witness to testify and they won't show up, you can go once every three days and shout in front of their house. If the court said that you owe money, you have 30 days to pay. If you still don't pay, you can be bound in chains the way at least 15 pounds or more, and you wear those chains until you pay the money. These types of laws, and many more, were the basis of Roman society and they were pretty useful. However, there were many other laws that are more humorous than helpful. To learn more about them, let's play a super fun game. Okay, are you ready? We are going to play Roman Law Trivia.
Speaker 5:Roman Law Trivia.
Speaker 4:Of course we are Of course we are.
Speaker 1:The point of the game is I am going to ask you some Roman Law and you will just tell me what you think about it. I don't know if you have an expertise in this area, but if you do not, that is okay, as well, and you can still play the game.
Speaker 5:Well, I definitely don't.
Speaker 4:Are you ready?
Speaker 5:God, I don't know yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, emperor Claudius passed a law called the Fart Law. Please tell us what you think the Fart Law was.
Speaker 5:It's either they kill you or you pay like a fart tax.
Speaker 4:Fart tax.
Speaker 2:Okay, none of those are even closed, but I appreciate the guesses.
Speaker 1:The Fart Law was. Emperor Claudius saw that people were holding in their farts during meal times and what he thinks might cause either like physical pain or death. So he said, hey, to alleviate this problem, I will be a kind and just ruler and I will allow you to fart during the meal.
Speaker 2:The fart law.
Speaker 5:It was a law.
Speaker 1:It says that now it was an edict which was kind of like a law it was like a soft law, I think Allowed people the privilege to fart in public at the table during dinner, because he heard of a man that almost died from holding it in and considered it a matter of public health. This only pertains to meal times and not any other time of the day. So your previous statement of if you get caught farting in public you may owe a tax that could be a thing I don't know. It didn't say anything about that.
Speaker 5:I just wonder which part of it's enforceable.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to do some more research on that one. I don't know.
Speaker 5:Of all the things going on in the world at that time.
Speaker 2:We have to solve this part issue. Let's make an edict.
Speaker 5:I'm so excited I'm pumped.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:What color were prostitutes legally required to dye their hair?
Speaker 4:What? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:This is like a thing, the mark of the prostitute was their hair color.
Speaker 1:What hair color did they have to dye their hair?
Speaker 2:Right off the bat, the first color that pops in my head was like red, because I think of like the scarlet letter or I don't know, like just something that stands out.
Speaker 1:That is a great guess it is incorrect.
Speaker 2:Okay, so close the answer is blonde.
Speaker 4:You're kidding. You feel like the best prostitute of all time in Roman times.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, and I just lightened my hair yesterday.
Speaker 4:So it is extra.
Speaker 2:It's extra bright. No way that is crazy, but that's such a cool.
Speaker 4:That's so weird.
Speaker 2:That's such a cool fact Like I don't know. I would have definitely thought like red or black or something Like, something like dark, so dark hair was actually coveted by the royals.
Speaker 1:Women's had more than 100 different recipes for dyeing or bleaching their hair. The dye often caused hair loss and in some cases women had to wear wigs or they would have to take the hair of their slaves.
Speaker 2:So put their hair back on.
Speaker 1:And if you wanted to get a dark black color, the perfect shade of black was achieved by soaking rotten leeches that were kept in wine for 40 days.
Speaker 2:What Leeches Leeches.
Speaker 1:Okay. How many times could you sell your son into slavery before you were considered an unfit father?
Speaker 3:Three.
Speaker 2:Why do you say three, my favorite number, so you'd like sell your like three. I would sell my son three times.
Speaker 1:Well, you'd think your favorite number is like 75.
Speaker 3:I would say three. I don't have a good reason. Why would I sell my son three times before I was an unfit father? Well, definitely more than once. And I feel like, if you can do something more than I don't have, I would say three and I don't have a good reason for it. I'm not good.
Speaker 1:The answer is three.
Speaker 4:Three.
Speaker 1:You were allowed to sell your son three times and then you'd have to move on to like the next son and you could sell him three times, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:Wow, look at that, I know, nailed it. Okay, here we go, you ready, ready.
Speaker 1:You were not allowed to be buried. If you were killed, in what way? In ancient Rome? I will give you a hint.
Speaker 6:The answer will shock you Electricity. They didn't have electricity back then, but electric you should. You should have electricity If you were struck by lightning. That was correct.
Speaker 1:If you got hit by lightning, it was a sign from the gods and they would not bury you. Lightning strikes, the Romans believed, were an act of God performed by Jupiter. If something or someone got hit by a lightning bolt, it wasn't that luck. Jupiter just really hated whatever it was, whether it was a tree or a person. Jupiter decided it was time for it to go. So if your friend got hit, you were legally forbidden to lift the body above the knees and you definitely couldn't bury him. If you did, you'd stolen the sacrifice from Jupiter. So you got hit by lightning and you were like my bro. So the vestuul virgin took a vow of chastity in order to keep the temple of Vesta always burning. How long do you think the vow of chastity was and what was their reward?
Speaker 2:Just randomly give that job to one person.
Speaker 1:No, there were virgins, so it was like a whole client of virgins running around. Yeah, we're like keeping this temple going. So how long was the vow of chastity they had to take and what was their reward?
Speaker 2:Were they a certain age.
Speaker 1:Like they were young when they became virgins.
Speaker 2:I would say maybe a year, and then they got a feast afterwards.
Speaker 4:It was a big celebratory part.
Speaker 2:Thank you for being a virgin. Here is some ham and mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1:You were not close, but it is 30 years and their reward was they got like a pension, like basically it was like a job, like you worked 30 years and then you got to retire on a pension.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's crazy, oh my gosh. So they had to give up, like pretty much potentially, the opportunity of like being moms and like getting married. That's so strange.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they had to stay virgins for 30 years. Now if they either by choice or someone like took their virginity, they were basically punished by death. But if they lasted the full 30 years, then not only were they given like a pension, but it was then they would get the chance to marry and it was like very, very good luck for you to marry a natural virgin and bring them into your family.
Speaker 2:That is so gosh. I'm glad we live in the time that we do now, girl, I know Seriously.
Speaker 1:What were women not allowed to do at a Roman funeral?
Speaker 5:Drive, probably drive, and vote. I don't know. Hey, I am no one's more upset than I am. Okay, I'm just saying they were, you know, a lot of misogyny back then.
Speaker 2:All right, you're right.
Speaker 1:They were not allowed to drive and there's no cars.
Speaker 5:They were probably not allowed. They probably weren't allowed to cry, they probably dishonored their family and I don't know, I'm just saying cry. They were allowed to cry or show emotion.
Speaker 1:They were not allowed to cry or show emotion, and the reason why was because the greater you were, the more mourners you would have, which means the more you have people crying at your funeral. And so families were like paying other people to come out and like, wail and make noise to make it like a bigger or more prestigious funeral than it was. Well, the Senate was like this is fucking annoying. No more crying at funerals for women. But men were just not allowed to cry because they'd be considered like we could fuck if they did.
Speaker 1:So it was really just the women crying. So yep, illegal for women to cry at a funeral.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll do it. There you go, there you go.
Speaker 5:Oddly enough, no farting either, not unless they're serving food and then apparently it's considered a dinner and then it's serving Awake.
Speaker 4:Far away from your home.
Speaker 5:We insist, you do it.
Speaker 1:During the funeral disrespectful.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, all right. One more. This is an easy one. What color was illegal for commoners to wear in ancient Rome?
Speaker 6:Yeah, purple, like royal purple.
Speaker 4:Correct.
Speaker 6:That is correct.
Speaker 1:Royal purple dye was so expensive at the time, the royals were like, nope, we're just going to keep this color for ourselves. So the answer is purple. Oh cool.
Speaker 6:I'm usually terrible at like. I don't enjoy going to trivia nights. I never get anything right, so that's I feel pleased I got a 75% on the test.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you did really. I was expecting way less and you crushed it. You crushed it.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I usually expect a very little out of me too.
Speaker 1:Like Roman trivia could be your thing. Thank you to everyone for playing Roman Law Trivia. We appreciate you adding a little humor to our history lesson. I find it super interesting and there's so much more to talk about, but we must press on. If you're interested in history or religion, you can listen to the bonus clips for more information on these topics.
Speaker 1:Let's get back on track. Okay, we're finally here, the moment our idiom is born. Picture it 30 AD. Jesus is giving a sermon on the Mount. He's speaking about how Christians should act towards others. From this sermon we actually get many sayings that you may have heard of, to include salt of the earth, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and our idiom of today if a man in authority makes you go one mile, go with him too.
Speaker 1:During Roman rule, armies occupied lands that were seen as troublesome or might cause rebellion. Soldiers had certain privileges, among which was the law of imprisonment, which was the right to stop any able-bodied man that was not a Roman citizen who might be standing idle or going in the same direction as the soldier. They could be ordered to carry all of the soldier's equipment for a maximum distance of a thousand paces. In Latin that's a millipassus, which gives us our word for mile. After that mile the man could put down the burden and leave the soldier either to carry it for himself or to press someone else into service for the next mile. Did you know that the mile of today is historically linked to Rome? The mile is a unit of linear measure that is equal to 1,760 yards, that is, 5,280 feet within a statute mile. It originated from the Roman millipassus, or thousand paces, which is measured in 5,000 Roman feet. The Roman standard foot is called the piss. Meteorologists have come to differing conclusions concerning the exact length of 5,000 Roman feet, but the currently accepted modern equivalent is 11.65 inches. Today we use 12 inches, which equals 5,280 feet per mile.
Speaker 1:If a man refused to do his duty for a soldier on demand, he could be arrested and sent to prison. It was a most unpopular law at the time and people naturally evaded the duty if they possibly could. So Jesus must have startled and shocked everyone when he said to do the opposite. To have to go one mile with that load was bad enough, but to go another on your own accord, that seemed ridiculous what Jesus was really trying to say is that to accept an obligation cheerfully and even go beyond it is better than doing things under protest. Treating people with generosity and forbearance might make friends instead of enemies. This is certainly the way in which Jesus acted himself towards others.
Speaker 1:Later in life, jesus is tried by the Romans and made to carry a cross up a hill for him to be executed During the walk. Jesus is unable to carry the cross and a Jewish man named Simon is ordered by a Roman soldier to pick it up and carry it. Interesting fact, he is obligated to do so by the law of imprisonment. Jesus is executed around 33 AD by the Romans, but his words live on today. His Sermon on the Mount is one of the most quoted Gospels of the Bible.
Speaker 1:Even today, most of us recognize the saying go the extra mile, which means that Jesus' words still live on. Alright, we're going to come back from our field trip to modern times. I am so glad to be back. There's a lot of crazy rules and drama going on. While the fart rule seems cool, crucifixions aren't. Thankfully, they were abolished around the 4th century AD and I'm glad to be alive in 2023 AD.
Speaker 1:While many of us figuratively go the extra mile. There are a few among us that literally go the extra mile. No one takes this idiom more literally than athletes do. While some of us wouldn't dream of running a mile unless being chased, others of us would compete in the most grueling competitions on Earth just for fun. Let's talk about it. Only 0.01% of the world population per year runs so many miles. It adds up to 26.2. That's the distance of a full marathon.
Speaker 1:The history of the marathon is actually older than the origin of this idiom. The event was born out of the legend of the Athenian courier, philippides, who, in 490 BC, ran from the site of the Battle of Marathon to Athens with a message of Nike or victory, before promptly collapsing and dying. So, you're telling me, a guy died running super far away and we wanted to make a sport inspired by this? Yep, we sure did. Philippides ran 25 miles before kicking the bucket. So 2,500 years later, baron Paris de Coburton, the founder of the modern Olympics, held a 40-kilometer marathon at the first inaugural modern games in Athens in 1896. Greek runner Spiderman Lewis won with a time of 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds to launch the marathon phenomenon. The inaugural marathon proved so popular in that one year that in 1897, the Boston Marathon was created.
Speaker 1:Wait a second. The marathon is 26.2 miles. So what gives? The story goes that in 1908, during the London Olympics, queen Alexandria requested that the race start on the lawn of the Windsor Castle so the royal children could watch from the window of their nursery, and it finished in front of the royal box at the Olympic Stadium. A distance that happened to be 26.2 miles, or 26 miles and 385 yards. The random boost in mileage ended up sticking. In 1921, the length of the marathon was formally standardized at 26.2 miles.
Speaker 1:Here's a few more fun marathon facts. Over 1.1 million people a year run marathons, which is 0.01% of the population. In order to be in the top 10% of marathon runners, you have to finish in 3 hours 31 minutes and 46 seconds. The oldest person to run a marathon was 100. The first person to run a marathon in space was Sunta Williams, who ran 26.2 miles on board the space station. The longest running annual marathon is the Boston Marathon. As of this recording in 2023, calvin Kiptum from Kenya holds the world record for the fastest marathon, at 2 hours and 35 seconds. Take a second to think how fast that is. I'll wait, go ahead. Take a guess that's 4 minutes and 36 seconds a mile. That's over 13 miles per hour for 2 hours. The man is a machine. A marathon sounds long, but what about an Ironman race? That's a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and then a marathon. That's 140.6 miles of race, most finished in 14 to 17 hours.
Speaker 1:The first serious attempt to develop the sport of ultra running as we know it today took place in 1928, when sports promoter Charles C Pyle held a foot race across America from coast to coast. The winner, andy Payne, finished in a little over 573 hours. Other intense races include the self-transcendence 3,100 mile race, which is the longest certified road race where participants, from 6 am to midnight every day for 52 days, averaging 59.6 miles per day to finish the 3,100 miles. The race started in 1997. The big dog backyard ultra is the last man standing race. There is no finish line. Runners are required to run a loop of 4.16 miles every hour on the hour until no one else remains. They can run as fast or as slow as they want, but they have to be ready to go when the next hour starts. No exceptions Runners run until everyone else has disqualified themselves. I enjoy some level of suffering", says American Maggie Guttroll, who became the first woman to win when she breezed her way through 250 miles in 2019. The current record holder as of 2023 is Harvey Lewis, a 47-year-old man, who ran 450 miles in 108 hours. That's 4.16 miles every hour for 4.5 days.
Speaker 1:Badwater 135, which is recognized as the world's toughest foot race, starts in Death Valley, at the lowest elevation in North America, and finished at the end at the road of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental US. The race covers three mountain ranges and participants experience 14,600 feet of cumulative ascent and more than 6,000 feet of cumulative descent. Air temperatures get as high as 127 degrees and the road gets so hot it can burn the shoes off the runner's feet. Only 100 people are invited to run the race each year, and you have to qualify to enter. It seems as though people keep pushing the limits to see how much they can endure. It takes going the extra mile to a whole new level.
Speaker 1:But why Are they crazy? Maybe, but no, the allure of running these races and pushing the body is simple for most runners Setting goals and reaching them, keeping a positive mental attitude and a healthy body, tapping into something primal that generations of humans have done before us and more. There are so many reasons for choosing to get up and go the extra mile. If you want to read some incredible stories about pushing the limits or running, I highly suggest you pick up Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, david Goggins Can't Hurt Me, or Choosing to Run, a Memoir by Des Lyndon. And if you want to learn more about the motivation of super athletes, check out the Going the Extra Mile bonus episode, where I talk to a professional triathlon coach, speaker and writer who's been featured in several publications such as Shape, women's Health, men's Journal, runner's World and more. She's run 19 Ironman and 6 Ironman World Championship races herself. She is definitely an expert in going the extra mile and I hope you really enjoy her perspective on the subject.
Speaker 1:I told you this was going to be a rabbit-toll of information. We went as far back as 490 BC at the Battle of Marathon. We stopped briefly for a bit in the early days of Rome and made a pit stop at the Sermon on the Mount in 30 AD. We talked about the beginnings of the marathon in the 1900s and flashed forward to talk about the records set by our most motivated athletes in 2023. If you are not too tired from your time travels. I hope you are motivated to go back and research some of these historical moments on your own, so many of them are applicable to our everyday lives.
Speaker 1:Okay, fun fact family. I will leave you here with these intellectual snacks to think about, and you can tell me what you think about by leaving us a comment on the podcast or sending us an email to myanoriginalthoughtpodcastatgmailcom. I want to hear from you. What did you like and what do you want to see in the future? Which idiom do you want us to explore next time? If you have any insight on today's topic, something I missed or didn't get right, or you want to be featured in a future what the Idiom segment, let me know. This is our show and I want to interact with you as always. Like and subscribe to the podcast so you'll never miss a new episode. That's a wrap for today. Thank you so much for being with us to learn and laugh our way through another unoriginal thought. I'm your host, afton Jay, and I thank you for hanging out with me and, as always, keep being inquisitive.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to let you know that if you couldn't get enough of this episode, we will always have bloopers and interesting conversations included afterwards. Some of this material we didn't have time to get to or it just didn't have a final place in the edit, but as always, it's thought provoking or funny or possibly both. If you're interested, just stick around. Bloopers. Oh yeah, this is your unoriginal host, afton Jay, and I'm happy to be hanging out with you. Ooh, bad start. Meteorologists have come to different conclusions about the concerning God. Oh, my goodness, I cannot. This paragraph is so hard. Go the extra mile, keep going. I'm telling you you can. Pfft, jesus, this is going to be a very long recording if I cannot get the first fucking paragraph down. Did you know that the person to bring us go the extra mile was the big J himself? The big Jesus.
Speaker 2:Really the big Jesus. The big Jesus. Oh my goodness, I'm going hell.
Speaker 4:I'm like Olympic runners.
Speaker 2:I had no idea.
Speaker 1:The idea to count the years from the birth of Jesus Christ was first proposed in the year. I don't want to say it because I don't know if it's right.
Speaker 2:I hung up on you.
Speaker 5:How dare you?
Speaker 4:How dare you? But I call back with questions Continue.
Speaker 1:Well, continue, please. You were not allowed to be buried. If you were killed, in what way? In ancient Rome?
Speaker 5:Probably if you held your farts in until you died, they were like this idiot.
Speaker 4:He wouldn't even get up and go to the park.
Speaker 5:And he died. We're not digging a hole for him. This guy wouldn't fart. Now I have to spend the whole day digging a hole.
Speaker 2:We made a law for this. What are we doing here?
Speaker 5:We throw him in the river. Next county's problem.
Speaker 2:Okay, that is not the answer.
Speaker 5:If I'm sitting next to someone at dinner and they rip a juicy fart, I'm so upset You're going to sit here and you're going to fart. You're not going to walk out in the hallway and fart. Isn't that what everyone does? Now? If you're out at dinner with someone and you have to fart, do you just sit there in agony or do you go to I don't know the one room where you can actually shit and take like an air shit in the same room?
Speaker 1:It's very polite. I don't know, man, it's not my law, I'm just saying that's what happened. Roman law trivia.
Speaker 6:I'm going to be terrible at this.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited and for Claudius passed a law called the fart law. Please tell us what you think the fart law was.
Speaker 6:He who smells adulterate.
Speaker 4:That is not true?
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm going to make a serious guess. We will accept it.
Speaker 1:How many times could you sell your son into slavery before you were considered an unfit father?
Speaker 6:I mean like I hope that it's just once, but I'm feeling that's not the answer. There's three.
Speaker 2:The answer is three.
Speaker 4:Congratulations.
Speaker 2:I know, I know this is so funny.
Speaker 1:The first segment is all about the history of the marathon. So what is the longest race you've ever participated in or the farthest you've ever run?
Speaker 3:I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. I didn't even train for it. It was stupid. Have you ran Did?
Speaker 2:you know I love that race. Yeah, I've run it five times.
Speaker 3:No one.
Speaker 2:Not trying to one up.
Speaker 3:you asked no you, five up to me, five up to you.
Speaker 1:And so what is the longest race you've ever participated in? What was the farthest you've ever run? I don't run, okay, honestly, like when it comes to what you've done, the longest race you've ever participated in.
Speaker 4:What is the longest race you've ever participated in.
Speaker 2:Okay, Honestly, like when it comes to like running, specifically because I fucking hate cardio. There's no other way to say it. I absolutely hate cardio, so I would have to say the mile in high school the last time you ran was in high school. Something makes me nauseous. I'm thinking about running right now and I'm sick. It makes me physically ill.
Speaker 1:Ha, gotta love those bloopers. That's a wrap. Yep, we're all done here. Oh wait, were you looking for some more fun facts? Okay, check out the next episode. Press play let's go.