Humanitarian Athletic Participation and Identity Work

Numerous studies examine youth purpose and volunteerism, but only few investigate how altruistic activities shape identity development within athletic contexts. Endurance-based humanitarian fundraising teams are becoming increasingly popular forms of volunteerism among adolescents and young adults in the United States, but little is known about their developmental role. Twenty-four participants (15–21 years of age; M = 17.42) were interviewed to identify the prominent themes that arose from their experiences while training for and participating in a marathon. A thematic analysis was used to determine the dominant themes that characterized the intersection of humanitarian marathon training and running with aspects of identity work. The majority of the comments of the participants were directly tied to their experiences in running the marathon. Four themes were identified including identity work, faith, purpose, and social connection. More so than exploring their possible selves, a consistent theme throughout the interview with the participants was what they learned about their current selves and the capacities they already possessed during their marathon experience.

Training, Anthropometric, and Physiological Characteristics in Men Recreational Marathon Runners: The Role of Sport Experience

The aim of the present study was to examine the physiological and training characteristics in marathon runners with different sport experiences (defined as the number of finishes in marathon races). The anthropometry and physiological characteristics of men recreational endurance runners with three or less finishes in marathon races (novice group, NOV; n = 69, age 43.5 ± 8.0 years) and four or more finishes (experienced group, EXP; n = 66, 45.2 ± 9.4 years) were compared. EXP had faster personal best marathon time (3:44 ± 0:36 vs. 4:20 ± 0:44 h:min, p < 0.001, respectively); lower flexibility (15.9 ± 9.3 vs. 19.3 ± 15.9 cm, p = 0.022), abdominal (20.6 ± 7.9 vs. 23.8 ± 9.0 mm, p = 0.030) and iliac crest skinfold thickness (16.7 ± 6.7 vs. 19.9 ± 7.9 mm, p = 0.013), and body fat assessed by bioimpedance analysis (13.0 ± 4.4 vs. 14.6 ± 4.7%, p = 0.047); more weekly training days (4.6 ± 1.4 vs. 4.1 ± 1.0 days, p = 0.038); and longer weekly running distance (58.8 ± 24.0 vs. 47.2 ± 16.1 km, p = 0.001) than NOV. The findings indicated that long-term marathon training might induce adaptations in endurance performance, body composition, and flexibility.

The Carbon Footprint of Marathon Runners: Training and Racing

Marathon running leaves a significant carbon footprint regarding CO2 emissions; for example, 37 percent of New York Marathon participants travel internationally to New York. The aim of this study is to estimate the CO2 footprint of a person training and competing in a marathon; we will also propose methods to minimize the CO2 footprint because of transportation. In addition, we also examine the influence of food practices and hygiene on training and racing a marathon. Methods: We estimated the annual carbon footprint of one person taking part in a marathon. We considered all training, racing, and travelling (local and international) for one person (we are going to give him the first name of “Henri”), and then compared his CO2 footprint with his colleagues playing tennis and soccer. The excess CO2 footprint whilst running and for shoes, clothing, books, magazines, insurance, travel, hygiene, laundry, and resources for electronics and additional food consumed were calculated. For competitions, we estimated and compared the CO2 emission from transportation to national vs. international marathon (New York). Results: We estimated that our runner emitted 4.3 tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), including all greenhouse gases. A transatlantic flight to New York corresponded to 3.5 tons CO2, which is 83% of the annual carbon footprint of an average French citizen which is about 11 tons CO2e/year. This leads to a sudden 40% increase in Henri’s annual carbon footprint. Conclusions: By focusing on the additional carbon footprint from one year of marathon training and racing, and traveling locally versus internationally, this sport still has a potentially significant carbon footprint that runners and race organizers ought to consider. We wanted to answer a growing question of marathon runners who are wondering about the carbon footprint of their sports practice in following with a new environmentalist trend that considers not traveling anymore to participate in marathons and to stay local. However, the representativeness in the selection of calculation objectives is very low. There is no need for statistics since this study is a theoretical simulation of traditional training and competition practices of marathon runners.

Bidirectional Associations across Time between Entitativity, Positive Affect, Generosity, and Religiousness in Adolescents Training with a Religiously Affiliated Charity Marathon Team

Numerous studies have established that participation in regular physical activity provides physical, cognitive, and affective benefits to adolescents, but fewer studies have examined how athletic involvement might affect character, social, or religious developmental markers of psychosocial functioning. The purpose of this study is to examine the bidirectional associations between entitativity (group closeness), positive affect, generosity, and religiousness across time among adolescents and emerging adults involved in charitable marathon training. We collected data from 396 adolescents and emerging adults who trained for half/full marathons with a religiously affiliated charity team. Participants completed measures at three occasions over 18 weeks (pre-training, mid-training, post-race). We conducted cross-lagged path analysis of latent factors to study concurrent and longitudinal effects of intrinsic religiousness, positive affectivity, and entitativity on interpersonal generosity and fundraising. Participants who reported higher levels of pre-training generosity were more likely to experience positive affect during training, which predicted higher levels of post-race generosity. Likewise, the internalization of religious ideas, reflected in increased intrinsic religiousness during training, was associated with higher post-race generosity. Overall, results support the potential of charitable sporting events to promote positive psychosocial developmental outcomes.