What’s harder: A marathon or an all day climb?

What wins?? Read on!

So I ran my first marathon yesterday. It’s always been a goal of mine, though I don’t especially enjoy running. I was also interested in seeing what’s harder: a marathon or a big, all-day climb.

Let’s examine a marathon: it’s 26.2 miles long, and it takes on average 3 to 5 hours to run, depending on the runner (it took me 4 hours 15 minutes; not quick by any means, but I’m not a runner and didn’t train for it.). It’s really demanding on your feet, legs, and joints.

Let’s look at a couple types of all day climbs: Last year my summit day on Rainier was 20 hours long and involved a 4000 vertical foot ascent and a 9000 foot descent. The year before last, I did the East Buttress of Whitney in a day (I think it was 19 or 20 hours round trip?). It involved elevation gain of 6000′ (1000′ of which was technical climbing), plus a 6 mile approach and 11 mile descent. I’ve also done Prodigal Sun in Zion in a day.

First, let me say what’s harder for me: I think a long day of climbing is harder. The marathon sucked, but it’s only 4 (or 3 or 5 or whatever) hours of suckage. But near the end, my legs started cramping and an older foot injury flared up again. For me, moving for 20 hours on Rainier was more of a challege because it is a lot more than 4 hours! I’d also say Whitney was harder. But I think the marathon was probably harder than doing Prodigal Sun.

Of course, this is definitely an imperfect comparison. I’m a climber, not a runner. Climbing is just easier on my limbs and joints. Also, we’re talking about a marathon here, not a 50 k or 50 mile or 100 mile race. I’m pretty sure a 100 mile race would be much, much harder than a day of climbing. 100 miles is a freaking LOT of ground to cover in a day!

But we can also look at it another way: The climbs I mentioned above are nothing extremely difficult technically. Let’s compare climbing The Nose in a day vs. a marathon. I think The Nose would definitely be harder. But how about this: Climbing The Nose in a day vs. a 100 mile run! That I can’t answer… Help, anyone? Opinions?

Anyway, those are just some thoughts I had in my head today as I was endlessly plodding down the pavement. There are undoubtedly people who read this who are more experienced runners and climbers than me. So I’d be interested in what you have to say!