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As part of a large study concerned with various aspects of marathon running 24 marathon runners and 17 of their spouses or partners were interviewed in depth. The interviews which lasted an hour or more explored in particular the degree of involvement, the motives for taking part in full or half marathon events and the impact which participation had on the runners and their families. The data showed a complex relationship existed between a desired level of involvement and what was achieved within the constraint of family and work commitments. The data also suggested that for the runners with families a number of different strategies were adopted in order to secure the necessary time to train for full or half marathon events. Three broad strategies were identified, taking time, buying time and sharing time, and each of these notions is discussed.
Barrell et al. (Fri,) studied this question.