Marathon running

Marathon running

Listen to Lluís talking about running and what happened when he ran the Barcelona marathon.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Interviewer: Hello, Lluís.

Lluís: Hello.

Interviewer: Erm, would you like to tell us about, erm, marathon running? 'Cause I know that you've started running marathons recently. Could you tell us a little bit about that, please?

Lluís: Er, well, yes, I started to, to, to run, like, er, I think, like, fourteen or fifteen years ago when I quit smoking. At the beginning I should run like a kilometre or two. And little by little … because I didn't have any ambition of this, to run much, it was just to do a bit of exercise to help my quitting of smoking. Er, so, but little by little I start to like it. And then, you know, I start to run a little bit more time, do more kilometres. And the thing that, the big change became when I got a watch, this kind of watches that, er, measures the distance and the speed. After that, you know, you try to get better, to do more kilometres, to do, er, yah, more time, and so on. Until, you know, er, I reach, er, a form that allow me to do a half-marathon. Y'know, this was my first race, was a half-marathon and I saw that I could do a half-marathon. And then, you know, little by little I thought why not try a marathon! And that was two years ago, that I did my first marathon. It was from Girona to the Costa Brava [… ?].

Interviewer: Ahh. And have you done any more marathons since the first one?

Lluís: Oh yeah. Last … This year, I did the Barcelona Marathon, which would … went at the beginning quite well 'cause I beat my best time for half-marathon which was like an hour and forty minutes and I did in the Barcelona Marathon an hour and thirty-one minutes which is quite good for men of my age (which … I'm forty-eight) and, you know, I'm not a professional or anything like that, so, quite a good time for me, I think. But then, at, at the end, you know, it was a very hot day. Maybe I didn't drank enough or something. At the kilometre forty, when it was only two kilometres left, I felt dizzy and you know, so I found myself on the ground and just my legs were weak and, you know, it felt numb and, you know, they had to, to help me out and sit me on a chair and they brought me some water and some food and, you know. So, at the end of the time it wasn't so good.

Interviewer: But you did finish the marathon?

Lluís: Yes, I did. I did finish the marathon but not with the time that I wanted to do, which was three hours and fifteen. So, it was three hours and thirty-five minutes which is not that … twenty minutes more than I wanted to do. But it was, still, it was still all right.

Interviewer: OK, well, congratulations. Thanks for telling us about it.

Discussion

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Average: 3.2 (9 votes)

Submitted by kostas on Sun, 17/09/2023 - 15:17

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I have been an amateur runner for years and intend to run a marathon this year.

Submitted by arashjahanbakht on Thu, 13/07/2023 - 05:13

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When I was a high school student, I was chosen for a marathon. Our sports teacher hadn't told us anything about the race. There were 5 people from our school and surprisingly, hundreds of hundred people from other schools. The marathon started. Everyone knows that you should save your energy during a marathon. We all would see that one strange student who had orange shoes was about a hundred metres ahead of the others just after a minute. We were so delighted because of managing our energy. The majority of people couldn't keep on after twenty minutes. Guess what? Eventually, the boy having the orange shoes won the marathon. I finished 174th in that marathon.

Submitted by meknini on Tue, 12/07/2022 - 11:00

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I used to love running and was quite into it before I put on weight and now I have quit as it's hard on my joints especially my knees and ankles so I have taken up other less taxing activities like palate and yoga that involve more stretching and flexibility. I was involved in many team competitive sports like netball, handball and volleyball during my teenage years but nowadays I prefer non-competitive ones.

Submitted by Viktoriia Besedina on Tue, 21/06/2022 - 08:50

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I don't running, but I think it's very useful for our health if you don't have problems with health. Sometimes I think about running but I like to sleep in the morning. I have never participated in marathons or any other running activity.

Submitted by mo-tarik on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 01:34

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Running is good for our health, and every other kind of sports that makes you move your body and increase your heart beat. So we should consider running or just walking to preserve a good health. I participated in a school competition, a 7Km race and I was very happy to finish it especially because it was the first time that I run such a long distance.

Submitted by EmanRamadan on Mon, 21/06/2021 - 13:07

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yes I like Swimming & Running a lot. And I was training for two months from 1 year ago. But I stopped because of personal reasons. I don't care about competition but about sport.

Submitted by May Nine on Sun, 11/04/2021 - 13:19

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I 'm not used to running . But I love it as it can keep my body fit and make me fresh for all day. But because of my daily chaos , I didn't get the chance to run outside . So, I prefer workouts at home . To the best of my recollection , I 've taken part in 400m running race . In that , I felt so tired and my legs were extremely numb. So, my speed was too bad and I got the second from the last. It was just back in the days . Now , I have to try running at my best just for my health.

Submitted by Fausto Vahos on Sun, 04/04/2021 - 20:28

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I like running. I train to run 10 K. Due to the pandemic I stopped training for 10 month. Running in very important to my life. It allows me to be good with myself. It keep me healthy. Something very important is to have a watch that helps you measure time, speed and heart rate.

Submitted by ynorguner on Thu, 18/03/2021 - 13:37

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I like walking. I walk everyday in the morning in Almond Park. I try to stard running but I think in first time is so dificcult because when I try to run I become so numb. I think my body is not ready for this exercices. When I was young I interested volleyball and basketball.

Submitted by cittàutopica on Thu, 11/03/2021 - 12:12

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I don't like running, but I used to go to the gym to work out five days a week, when the gims were open. Now, due to Covid, I work out at home. When I was young I played volleyball as an amateur.