No one really knows where running first began but there are many different examples of running throughout the years. The first
recored records of running were of the cavemen running to kill and catch prey. Through the years it evolved just like technology.
In 776 B.C., the first Olympic games were held in honor of the Greek God Zeus. The first Olympic games were held in Athens.
Originally it was a one day long event and one of the events was a sprint from one side of the arena to the other. They eventually
developed into a four day event with events such as the Javelin and Discus. About 2,000 years after these games the Modern Olympics
began. There is now Winter Olympics every 4 years and Summer Olympics every 4 years.
Orginally "funeral games", they were held in the honour of the dead and the Goddess Tailtiu in Ireland. These games started
sometime around 1829-632 BC. These games inculed all kinds of sports, including some running events and even a long distance event.
The Gaelic Athletic Association revied these games in 1924.
Around the 16th centery, the term "jogging" came into action. Swordsmen started using slow running, or jogging, to train
This technique was used mostly just by the upper classes and nobility. This is the beginning of using running to become fit. In the
19th and 20th centuries, running became and Professional sport and running began training some of the fastest runners ever to live.
It was also made popular my boxers who would jog in their training routine.
The running craze took off around 1962 when New Zealander Arthur Ludiard and Co-founder of Nike Bill Bowerman published a
book called Jogging. Other things that started the boom of running was American Frank Shorter who won the Marathon in the 1972
Olympics. Also the Boston Marathon held its firts race in 1897 with just 18 runners. Now it has 20,000 runners and is one of the most
well known races in the world. By the 1970's, 25 million people took up running including Clint Eastwood and former President Jimmy Carter.
This is the latest phenomenon in the runnign world today. This begins at the beginning of the world. When the Kenyans and Ethiopians
started to take over the world of distance running, barefoot running became more popular as the Africans released this as being one of their reasons
for sucess.