|
COPYRIGHT 2007 University of South Alabama
Regular physical activity is associated with a variety of beneficial physiological and psychological outcomes (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Despite these benefits, it is estimated that 60% of the US population does not engage in recommended amounts of physical activity, 25% engage in no physical activity, and only 15% engage in 30 min of moderate activity for 5 or more days per week (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Despite these alarming participation statistics, a small portion of our society actually endures the pain and financial costs of aerobic endurance events such as marathons. Masters, Ogles, and Jolton (1993) have appropriately named marathon runners "super adherers." Because of their large divergence from the majority of Americans and the pain, monetary, and time commitment required to train and run a marathon, the motives of long distance and marathon runners have been gaining research attention (Barrell, Chamberlain, Evans, Holt & Mackean, 1989; Curtis & McTeer, 1981; Johnsgard, 1985a; Johnsgard, 1985b; Masters & Lambert, 1989; Masters & Ogles, 1995; Ogles & Masters, 2000; Ogles & Masters, 2003; Ogles, Masters, & Richardson, 1995; Summers, Sargent, Levely, & Murray, 1982; Thornton & Scott, 1995; Ziegler, 1991). Though the motives of those who endure marathons are interesting, past research has yet to investigate the motive differences in runners prior to training for their race. Hence, the purpose of this present investigation was to prospectively examine whether the motives of runners differ in those who completed the marathon training and actual marathon from those who dropped out of marathon training.
Motivations of Marathon Runners
The voluntary engagement of several thousands of marathoners each year in an otherwise sedentary society creates the following simple question: What motivates these people? Curtis and McTeer (1981) were among the first to specifically investigate marathoners. The researchers used open-ended questions that asked for reasons why runners increased their distance to that of a marathon. The results suggested that runners were initially motivated by physical benefits such as weight loss and mental benefits such as stress relief. Specific to increasing training distance to that of a marathon, participant reported motives were for the desire to meet personal running distance goals. Summers and colleagues (1982) used an open ended response format to examine motivational changes of first time marathoners. They distributed questionnaire packets pre- and post-race. The pre-race questionnaire asked runners to list reasons for participating in their first marathon. Facing physical and mental challenges along with a sense of accomplishment were the most often cited reasons. The post-race questionnaire asked finishers for reasons why they would run another marathon. The top reason given was to run a faster time. Barrell et al. (1989) interviewed 24 runners who had already completed at least one marathon. They found that, at the beginning of their career these runners were motivated to stay in shape. Additionally, it was discovered that as these runners gained experience, they were still motivated to stay in shape, but they were also motivated to compete with themselves by running a faster time and to beat other racers.
Although these studies have provided insight and ideas for current research on marathoners, the studies have been...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
