Biggest Loser Marathon Recap

It's really great that The Biggest Loser contestants have achieved amazing weight loss and fitness goals. But I'm not sure what to make of the marathon...The Biggest Loser portrayed a very glossed over, rosy picture of what it takes to run a marathon. A few weeks of training and a little determination would seem to be all it takes if you just watched last week's episode.

One woman finished under 5 hours, another under 6. The other two had to walk the distance and finished in 9 and 13 hours. What was glossed over was the training, nutrition, and pain involved in running a marathon. All that was said about training was that they had just a few weeks to do it. Obviously, they must have had a base level of running fitness because most of those 26 days they had would be spent tapering. There was no mention of Gatorade, energy gels, water, salt or any of those marathon nutrition necessities. And aside from the guy with the bad knees, these guys looked really fresh and pain-free throughout the race. This appeared to be a tough course with serious hills, AND the race finished on soft sand! What?! Who really can sail across the finish line. running on a soft, sandy beach looking as fresh as when they started?! I just don't know... Again, I applaud the contestants accomplishments. I just don't think this show painted a very realistic, responsible portrait of marathoning. That's all. But if you want to read more, lots of people have been giving their opinions here.