ABSTRACT
Sima Zach and Assaf Lev’s chapter “Long distance running as a serious leisure activity and its influence on relationships within the family” concentrates on the growing popularity of marathon races in Israel. Long distance running is typically perceived as highly challenging and demanding, both physically and mentally, and it deeply affects the participants’ self-identity and their relations with the social world. They voluntarily invest time, effort, and money, and they are intensively involved in a world which is often external to the realm of partnership and marriage. This ethnographic research suggests that the runners’ personal relationship becomes fragile and insecure due to their intense investment of time in marathon practices. This chapter contends that the non-runner partners of these sportspersons are often excluded from the sportspersons’ new social world. Yet long distance runners report that their relationships with their children go through a dramatic and positive change. Whereas long distance running may jeopardize the runner’s marital partnership, her or his relationship with the children is strengthened and improved.
