30 reasons why you should run and register for the 7th Subotica Half Marathon

If you are unsure how you want to improve your fitness, perhaps trim your figure or simply want to do some sport, we bring you 30 interesting facts about running that will, we hope, spark the thought of making running the physical activity through which you work on yourself.

1. Eating less and running more is not really a good idea, because the body burns the most calories during and immediately after running, so if you eat less while increasing your mileage, your body may go into a kind of hibernation, that is, it will store calories instead of burning them.
2. According to research, if you run 1 hour and 15 minutes a week, you can prevent the development of cardiovascular disease.
3. Preparing for a marathon or half marathon improves performance at work. Running is an excellent choice for health, but also for increasing productivity. Also, preparing for a marathon requires planning, discipline, organisation, dedication and persistence, which significantly contributes to the general improvement of personality and character.
4. Running has a more effective impact on lowering high blood pressure than medication or a special diet. Research shows that running for an hour just a few times a week can lower blood pressure by 12 mmHg.
5. Interval training is one of the best ways to burn calories. Fast running for 8 seconds followed by easier running for 12 seconds, over 20 minutes, can burn five times more calories than running at a steady pace for 40 minutes.
6. According to research, running reduces the risk of a heart attack by as much as 50 percent, and also reduces the risk of stroke and diabetes. Other kinds of more dynamic exercise have the same effect.
7. Running in cold weather is safer than running in the heat. Dehydration is more likely when we run in the sun, because we excrete roughly 500 to 1,000 millilitres of fluid every hour.
8. Compression clothing has a very positive effect on the body: according to research carried out on a treadmill, runners who wore knee-high compression socks ran 6 percent faster than runners without them and had 43 percent less inflammation and pain after running.
9. A person weighing 70 kilograms can burn up to 600 calories during an hour of running, or 8 kilometres of running in an hour. The heavier the person, the more calories they burn by running.
10. If you can’t finish a sentence while running, you are running too fast. But if you can talk at length without difficulty while running, you need to pick up the pace a little. This applies to recreational running, jogging, not to interval or tempo training.
11. Women, if they decide to take up running, have a greater potential than men to get into shape faster. Their legs and back become stronger, and they lose a few centimetres around the waist.
12. Men run faster than women for several reasons. Above all they have more muscle mass, greater lung capacity, slightly higher haemoglobin in the blood and a higher percentage of testosterone.
13. Running boosts libido. About two and a half hours of running a week raises testosterone levels in men by 15 percent.
14. The world record holder in the marathon is Dennis Kimetto, who ran the Berlin Marathon in 2014 in 2:02:57.
15. The world record for the fastest mile (about 1.6 kilometres) in the men’s category is held by Hicham El Guerrouj with a time of 3:43.13, and in the women’s by Svetlana Masterkova with 4:12.56.
16. In the women’s category the world record is held by Paula Radcliffe with a time of 2:15:25, achieved at the London Marathon in 2003.
17. The fastest runner in the world is Usain Bolt, who holds the world records for 100 metres (9.58 s) and 200 metres (19.19) and is the owner of six Olympic gold medals.
18. In the world of runners, 45 percent of people have finished between 2 and 5 half marathons, and 50 percent of them have never tried to run a marathon.
19. The New York Marathon was one year finished by a total of 50,304 runners, the largest number of people ever recorded to finish a single marathon.
20. The youngest marathon runner in the world is Budhia Singh, who, believe it or not, started training for marathons at the age of three and by the age of four had already completed 48 marathons. The oldest marathon runner in the world is Fauja Singh, who ran the Toronto marathon at the age of 100.
21. Famous people have also run marathons, such as Edward Norton (3:48:01), Ryan Reynolds (3:50:22), Haruki Murakami (4:10:17), Sean “Diddy” Combs (4:14:52), Natalie Dormer (3:50:57), Pamela Anderson (5:41:03), Flea (3:41:49), Will Ferrell (3:56:12) and George W. Bush (3:44:52).
22. Among the 20 best marathon runners in the world, as many as twelve are from the Kalenjin tribe in Kenya. Experts attribute their speed and endurance to their body shape, thin calves and ankles. Their success in sport also comes as a result of their tradition, upbringing and practice, which make them physically and mentally strong.
23. As much as 20 percent of the world’s population does not have the “marathon gene”, and a certain proportion of runners simply cannot run a marathon with a good result, even if they have prepared well enough.
24. Running about 30 kilometres a week increases the chances of longevity. Research has shown that the mortality rate among people who run about 30 kilometres every week is 20 percent lower.
25. Runners’ bodies can store about 2,000 calories of glycogen, which is enough energy to run a course of 32 kilometres.
26. The oldest and largest ultramarathon in the world is held in South Africa and is called the “Comrades Marathon”. A total of 90 kilometres is run, and it gathers over 20,000 participants every year.
27. While running, we use 26 bones, 33 joints, 112 ligaments and a whole network of tendons, nerves and blood vessels. These figures refer to the feet alone.
28. Not all top runners weigh 45 kilograms. Peter Maher weighs 95 kilograms and finished a marathon in 2:11:46.
29. It is generally known that physical activity improves bone health and density, and running for 12 to 20 minutes three times a week can greatly benefit the skeletal system.
30. Every year over a billion pairs of running shoes are sold worldwide.

Let these 30 reasons be an extra motive to register for the 7th Subotica Half Marathon, which will be held on 25 August, and you have time to do so until noon on 16 August.