Marathon running

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NB: This is not an accurate word-for-word transcript

Dan: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Dan
Walker Smith and in today’s programme I’m joined by Nuala O’Sullivan.
Nuala: Hi Dan.
Dan: Now in today’s programme Nuala and I are talking about marathons. These
are the very long runs covering 26 miles or around 42 kilometres. Now Nuala
you’re a very experienced runner, so how many marathons have you run?
Nuala: Well I’ve actually run four Dan. I’ve run them in The Netherlands, Ireland,
Germany and France.
Dan: OK, which was the best out of the four you did?
Nuala: Oh definitely France. I was running through the vineyards and you got little
drinks of wine all the way along and there was steak and oysters to eat as well.
I mean it was just…it was a gourmet marathon; it was just fabulous.
Dan: That’s quite different from the normal marathons. You’re not going for a
certain time; you’re going for an enjoyable experience.
Nuala: Well I would say I was going for a good time because I wanted to enjoy
myself, not a good time as in getting a fast time.
Dan: Ah very good, very good indeed. OK well I’m running my first ever marathon
in just under a month’s time. I’m running the Brighton marathon on the south coast of England, so maybe you can give me some advice on that. But right
now, I have this week’s question for you:
Marathons recreate a legendary ancient run from Marathon to Athens in
Greece. But which country hosted the first modern marathon in 1896? Was it:
a) Greece
b) Britain
c) France
Nuala: I’m going for France.
Dan: OK, well we’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme.
Now before we play a clip, Nuala, I want to talk to you about nutrition and
hydration. Everyone tells me that these are really important for long-distance
running, so could you tell me a bit about them?
Nuala: Sure. Well nutrition is a technical word for the process of absorbing food. If
food is nutritious, it’s good for your health.
Dan: OK, and what about hydration?
Nuala: Well, to hydrate something means to add water to it. So when you’re running,
you have to consider hydration or how much water you’re taking in, because
you’re going to lose a lot through sweat. So if you’re doing a lot of exercise,
you can become dehydrated; that means becoming ill from not having enough
water.
Dan: OK, well let’s have a listen to the British novelist and marathon runner
Bidisha. Here she is comparing the repetitive movement of running to a kind of
meditation. Could you explain what meditation means here Nuala?
Nuala: Well meditation can mean either deep thought or a period of calm relaxation
on an almost religious level, which is quite different to what you imagine
running to be.
Dan: Yeah very much so, that’s not my experience of running. Well, let’s listen to
Bidisha talking about running. What religion does she compare it to?
Extract 1
You see those athletes in the park, and you think ‘my God they must be in pain’, but
actually what they’re doing is a sort of Zen exercise of relaxing into the movement.
Dan: Well she describes their running as a sort of Zen exercise. Zen is a form of
Buddhism that focuses on meditation. But I think she was closer to my
experience when she says ‘my God they must be in pain’, because I’ve been
training since Christmas more or less, about four months now, and I’m
definitely getting some pains when I’m doing my long runs.
Nuala: Oh what sort of pains do you get Dan, blisters? Blisters are the painful
pockets of fluid on your skin. They’re usually caused from rubbing or if you
burn yourself. They’re very common in runners because your shoe might be
rubbing against your foot and then that way you’d get a blister.
Dan: No it’s not