{"id":47714,"date":"2004-08-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-08-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/"},"modified":"2004-08-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-08-23T00:00:00","slug":"original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of the Summer Olympics, athletes will be participating in a special event, retracing the long distance run from which the Olympic event got its name. In 490 B.C. Pheidippides ran 26 miles to warn of the impending attack of the Persians upon his country. The route began in Marathon and ended in Sparta. Soon after he reached Sparta, Pheidippides died.<\/p>\n\n<p>Analyzing lunar records, astronomers at Texas State University believe the cause of his death was due to heat stroke. Their research indicates the runner may have raced in temperatures reaching 102 degrees. (Modern runners begin in the evening.) The <em class=\"citation\">New Scientist<\/em> quotes researcher Russell Doescher as saying: &quot;It seems plausible that someone running for all he&#39;s got, trying to save his fellow citizens, could keel over and die.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>The Apostle Paul gave a Pheidippides-like effort. Looking back on his life he was able to say: &quot;I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith&quot; (2 Timothy 4:7).<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3592,3640,3749,3764,3776,3833,3942,4498,4629,4869,4914,4931,4952,4953,5066,5088],"tax_ctp_topics":[386,388,401],"class_list":["post-47714","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-christian-life","tax_ctp_tags-commitment","tax_ctp_tags-dedication","tax_ctp_tags-desert","tax_ctp_tags-devotion","tax_ctp_tags-dying-to-self","tax_ctp_tags-faithfulness","tax_ctp_tags-motivation","tax_ctp_tags-perseverance","tax_ctp_tags-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-self-denial","tax_ctp_tags-self-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-servanthood","tax_ctp_tags-service","tax_ctp_tags-sports","tax_ctp_tags-striving"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Original Marathon Runner Gave His All - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the end of the Summer Olympics, athletes will be participating in a special event, retracing the long distance run from which the Olympic event got its name. In 490 B.C. Pheidippides ran 26 miles to warn of the impending attack of the Persians upon his country. The route began in Marathon and ended in Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/\",\"name\":\"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-08-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-08-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/original-marathon-runner-gave-his-all\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Original Marathon Runner Gave His All - CT Pastors","og_description":"At the end of the Summer Olympics, athletes will be participating in a special event, retracing the long distance run from which the Olympic event got its name. 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