[iamacyborg]

> Most people's internal alarm for self preservation starts yelling long before endurance is truly tested. Nobody sprints for 24 hours, but I am certain that even the average couch potato can keep walking for 24 hours. They'd be hurting after, of course. From learning to jog, I can attest that it mostly about willpower, and I suppose, desperation at times.

I'm not disputing this, but the response was that humans can't generally outrun a horse. Which is true. The average human will not be able to outrun the average horse.

[ClumsyPilot]

> The average human will not be able to outrun the average horse.

The average human can't fix a toilet.

Because we specialise so much, average human can't do anything, but a trained human cam do everything.

Whereas a horse is mostly always a horse.

[ralfd]

Google finds:

> How long does it take to train for marathon? Most marathon training plans range from 12 to 20 weeks. Beginning marathoners should aim to build their weekly mileage up to 50 miles over the four months leading up to race day.

So even untrained couch potatoes could learn in 4 month to run a marathon. (And indeed many do and test themselves that way.)

[iamacyborg]

Google is wrong.

Training plans do last that long but jumping into a marathon training block from nothing is a very quick path to being injured.