[giardini]

Got to agree on the lunacy. Legend has it that the first marathoner, Athenian messenger Pheidippides, died after running the 26.4 miles from Marathon to Athens and announcing the victory of the Athenian army over the Spartans at Marathon. But he had a good reason to do so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides

Apparently he ran much farther (like 6X as far) in the time before he died:

"The Real Pheidippides Story (Runners World):

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20836761/the-r...