In 490 BC a Greek messenger named Pheidippides ran from the Greek town of Marathon to the

公元前490年，一位名叫菲迪皮德斯的希臘信使從希臘的馬拉松鎮跑到。

capital Athens to deliver a message that the Greek army had

在首都雅典傳遞消息說，希臘軍隊已經... ...

just beaten back the Persians, and the distance between those two towns is 26.2 miles, and

剛打退了波斯人，而這兩個城鎮之間的距離是26.

that’s the origin of the modern sporting event that we call the marathon. You might

這就是現代體育賽事的起源，我們稱之為馬拉松。你可能

know that story, but what they don’t always tell you is that when he got to Athens after

但他們不一定會告訴你的是，當他到了雅典之後...

those 26.2 miles, Pheidippides died.

那26.2英里，菲迪皮德斯死了。

So why on Earth would anyone want to run one of those for fun? How are our bodies even

那麼，到底為什麼會有人想跑一個這樣的遊戲呢？我們的身體怎麼會

able to? I decided to find out, so I ran one. In the process, I

能嗎？我決定一探究竟，於是我跑了一趟。在這個過程中，我

discovered a lot about what I’m made of, in more ways than one. You guys ready to run

發現了很多關於我的東西， 在多個方面比一個。你們準備好跑了嗎？

the marathon? My training started millions of years before I ever got to the starting

馬拉松？我的訓練在我到達起跑線之前的幾百萬年就開始了

line.

行。

The first step to becoming a runner is, well, standing up, and bipedalism is only seen in

成為跑者的第一步是，嗯，站起來，雙足主義只見於。

a handful of animals, except for a few species of birds walking on two legs is only uses

少數動物，除了少數種類的鳥類用兩條腿走路外，其他的動物都只用兩條腿。

a temporary form of transportation. Our ancestors first stood up over three million years ago,

一種臨時的交通工具。我們的祖先在三百多萬年前第一次站起來。

and well we were running probably not long after that, were made for

我們大概在那之後不久就開始運行了，是為...

it. You could say that humans are built for long distance running but the truth is, long

它。你可以說，人類是為長跑而生的，但事實上，長

distance running build us the most four on the floor quadrupeds could easily beat me

奔跑的距離建立我們最四上的地板上的四足動物可以輕鬆地擊敗我

in a sprint, but humans are medal contenders in nature’s distance running events. Even

在短跑中，但在自然界的長跑項目中，人類是獎牌的競爭者。甚至

the cheetah, the most perfectly crafted running machine on Earth could only run for maybe

獵豹，地球上最完美的奔跑機器 也許只能跑上一段時間

a mile and a half before it overheats. Today’s fastest Olympic marathoners, they would only

一英里半才過熱。今天最快的奧運馬拉松選手，他們只會... ...

be beaten by a handful of Earth’s animals in that long

屢敗屢戰

distance. One theory of human evolution says that our adaptations for distance running

的距離。一種人類進化理論認為，我們對長跑的適應性

work feast or hunting success like we talked about in my episode “Why Do We Cook?”,

工作盛宴或狩獵成功，就像我們在我的 "我們為什麼要做飯？"一集中談到的。

bigger, richer meals mean that we could evolve, well, bigger, richer brains. There’s a whole

更大、更豐富的食物意味著我們可以進化出更大、更豐富的大腦。有一個整體

list of ways that we are made to run. In large tubes in our skulls help us balance while

我們奔跑的方式列表。在我們頭骨的大管子裡，幫助我們保持平衡，同時。

we’re running, reflexes in our eyes keep our heads steady as we move up and down. It’s

我們在奔跑時，眼睛的反射作用使我們的頭在上下移動時保持穩定。這就是

short arms and thin ankles that take us less effort to swing. Wide shoulders, a thin waist,

短臂和細踝，讓我們揮杆時不那麼費力。寬肩，細腰。

and a pretty narrow pelvis help us counter the rotation of our moving legs. We have sweat

和一個相當狹窄的骨盆幫助我們對抗我們移動的腿的旋轉。我們有汗水

glands, and less body hair, and tall thin bodies that let us disperse more heat. Better

腺，而少了體毛，高瘦的身體，讓我們散發出更多的熱量。更好的

blood flow away from the brain to keep it cool, your big gluteus maximus muscles to

血液流向大腦保持涼爽，你的臀大肌，以保持涼爽

stabilize our upper body, high surface area knee, ankle, and hip joints for shock absorption,

穩定我們的上半身，高表面積的膝關節、踝關節和髖關節的減震。

and most importantly, our lower legs are built like rubber bands.

最重要的是，我們的小腿就像橡皮筋一樣。

This is by far our coolest running adaptation. Every time my body hits the ground, it delivers

這是迄今為止我們最酷的跑步適應。每次我的身體落地時，它都會提供出

up to 8 times the force of my body weight. That’s over 1400 pounds! In order to keep

高達我體重的8倍的力量。那就是1400多磅！為了保持

that up for 26.2 miles, my foot expands and spreads like a shock absorber. This is the

在26. 2英里的路程中，我的腳像減震器一樣膨脹和擴散。這就是

most important part of a running human: the Achilles tendon. Though my foot hits the ground,

跑步的人類最重要的部位：跟腱。雖然我的腳踩在地上。

my calf muscles flexed, but even then the muscles and tendons are still a little bit

我的小腿肌肉彎曲，但即使如此，肌肉和肌腱仍然是一個小

elastic, and then my ankle joint acts as a lever, which transfers as much as 50 percent

彈性，然後我的腳踝關節作為一個槓桿， 它轉移多達50％的，

of that energy into the next step. By using stored kinetic energy, instead of chemical

的能量進入下一步。通過使用儲存的動能，而不是化學的

energy, we’re able to go farther with less work.

能量，我們能夠用更少的工作走得更遠。

You can’t run a marathon with just rubber bands though. You need power that humans are

但你不能只用橡皮筋跑馬拉松。你需要的是人類的力量

run on gasoline your car ATP. This is an image of a striated muscle, the same type we have

在汽油上運行 你的車ATP。這是一個條紋肌的影像， 我們有相同的類型。

in our arms, in our legs, and basically everywhere that we move. Each row of stripes contains

在我們的手臂上，在我們的腿上，以及基本上我們移動的每一個地方。每一行的條紋都包含

a string of proteins called actin, next to another string of proteins called myosin.

一串叫做肌動蛋白的蛋白質，旁邊還有一串叫做肌球蛋白的蛋白質。

And the head of that myosin protein, well, it acts like a ratchet, pulling along the

肌球蛋白的頭部，就像一個棘輪一樣，拉住了

string of actin, shortening our contracting the muscle. That myosin machine is powered

肌動蛋白的字符串，縮短我們收縮肌肉。那臺肌球蛋白機器是由

by ATP. The thing is, our bodies only have a couple seconds worth of ATP stored up at

由ATP。問題是，我們的身體僅有幾秒鐘的ATP儲存在

any moment, so instead, we’re constantly replenishing it, thanks to our mitochondria

所以，我們反而在不斷地補充它，這要感謝我們的線粒體。

and their little ATP factories. Just picture me as a giant ship with trillions of mitochondria

和他們的ATP小工廠。把我想象成一艘擁有數萬億線粒體的巨輪。

at the oars. My body cycled through something like 75 kilograms of ATP during the marathon.

在船槳上。我的身體在馬拉松過程中循環消耗了大約75公斤的ATP。

That’s almost my entire body weight! It just shows you how good our bodies are at

這幾乎是我整個身體的重量！這只是告訴你我們的身體有多好。

recycling energy. Now that’s 75 kilograms of ATP broken down release the same amount

回收能量。現在是75公斤ATP分解後釋放出同樣的能量

of free energy as a kilogram of TNT. My body gets ATP in a couple of different ways. If

一公斤TNT的自由能量。我的身體通過幾種不同的方式獲得ATP。如果

I was running full speed the entire time, my cells would be forced to use an inefficient

我一直在全速運轉，我的細胞就會被迫使用低效的電池。

process called glycolysis, but by running slightly slower for the whole race, I let

稱為糖酵解的過程，但通過在整個比賽中跑得稍微慢一點，我讓我的運動量增加了。

my mitochondria use a much more efficient method called the Krebs cycle and the electron

我的線粒體使用了一種更有效的方法，叫做克雷布斯循環和電子。

transport chain. I can burn lots of fuel and make that ATP, like fat or protein, but my

運輸鏈。我可以燃燒大量的燃料，並使ATP，如脂肪或蛋白質，但我的。

muscles prefer glucose, which is stored in long chains like glycogen for quick access,

肌肉更喜歡葡萄糖，它像糖原一樣儲存在長鏈中，以便快速獲取。

but even they don’t keep that much just lying around. So instead, I topped off my

但即使是他們也不會把這麼多東西放在身邊。所以，我把我的

glycogen tank before the race by doing something called carb loading.

糖原罐在比賽前通過做一些所謂的碳水化合物加載。

Look at all these waffles I have to eat. But even eating all that before the race, my body

看看這些華夫餅我都得吃。但即使在比賽前吃了那麼多，我的身體... ...

can’t hold all the glycogen it needs to get through a marathon, so I had to eat and

不能保持所有的糖原它需要通過一個馬拉松， 所以我不得不吃和

drink more during the race, or else I would hit the dreaded wall.

在比賽中多喝水，否則我就會撞上可怕的牆。

Hitting the wall is just a big scary name for fatigue. And there’s lots of reasons

撞牆只是一個大的嚇人的名字，疲勞。而且有很多原因

why it can happen. If you run out of glycogen, then your muscles can run out of ATP, and

為什麼會發生這種情況。如果你用完了糖原，那麼你的肌肉就會用完ATP，而。

that protein ratchet will get stuck in the lock position. It’s actually why something,

那個蛋白棘輪會卡在鎖定位置。其實這也是為什麼一些。

well, gets kinda stiff when it dies. If your cells don’t have enough salt, then your

好吧，當它死了，變得有點僵硬。如果你的細胞沒有足夠的鹽分，那麼你的細胞

nerves and muscles won’t have the sodium, potassium, and calcium that they need to pass

神經和肌肉不會有鈉、鉀和鈣，他們需要通過的

electrical signals. The main reason that people hit the wall is because of this. See, your

電信號。人們撞牆的主要原因就是因為這個。你看，你的

brain is competing with your muscles for blood sugar, and if those levels dip too low, well,

大腦正在與你的肌肉競爭血糖， 如果這些水準下降太低，好。

you’ll feel dizzy and loopy.

你會感覺到頭暈目眩，昏昏欲睡。

“I think I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. ”

"我想我快死了。我要死了”

“You’ll be okay.”

"你會沒事的。"

Your brain is actually preventing your muscles from firing goad for some emergency power

你的大腦其實是在阻止你的肌肉發力，以獲得一些應急的動力。

save mode. I’ve never run a marathon before and I discovered it’s not like any other

保存模式。我以前從來沒有跑過馬拉松，我發現它和其他的馬拉松不一樣

sporting event I’ve ever taken part in. You’re not battling an opponent; you’re

我參加過的體育賽事。你不是在和對手較量，你是在...

only battling yourself. All those feelings of joy, and fatigue, and pain, they only exist

只不過是在和自己較勁。那些快樂、疲憊、痛苦的感覺，它們只存在於...

in your mind. That mind is connected to the physical muscles and chemical power plants

在你的頭腦中。這個頭腦是連接到身體的肌肉和化學發電廠的

and proteins doing work. I’ve never understood more about my body, or my biology, and when

和蛋白質的工作。我從來沒有了解過更多關於我的身體， 或者我的生物學，而當... ...

I push them to the limit, and in the process, I discovered that it wasn’t a limit after

我把他們逼到了極限，在這個過程中，我發現，這不是極限後的極限

all. That was the most fun I’d never want to have again. Like halfway through, it was

所有。那是我再也不想有的樂趣。就像半途而廢，它是

like the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and the entire second half

就像我做過的最難的事情，而整個後半段

was just pure willpower, like a competition against yourself, and I-I won. I beat- I beat

只是純粹的意志力， 就像與自己的競爭，我，我贏了。我贏了，我贏了

my own mind. That was awesome. Thank you, everybody.

我自己的想法。這是真棒。謝謝大家

We’re not the only social animals that sit down to eat together, but we are the only

我們不是唯一坐下來一起吃飯的社會性動物 但我們是唯一的

ones who cook. Cultural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss is above all cooking establishes

烹飪的人。文化人類學家克勞德-列維-斯特勞斯是最重要的烹飪建立了

the difference between animals and people, although I’d think he’d agree that pants

動物和人的區別，雖然我想他會同意，褲子

make a big difference, too.

也有很大的不同。