Abstract: Taking as subjects 25 college students who participate in marathon run, the present paper studied through phenomenological method their emotional experience in marathon run, aiming to reveal their phenomenological experience of pursuing achievements and its significance for them. Conclusions: (1) The emotional experience of marathon run is divided into three stages: pre-run stage, running stage and post-run stage. The self-representation of emotional experience in the pre-run stage mainly manifests as excitement and tension, that in the running stage the hit-the-wall period and sense of flow, and that in the post-run stage relaxation and sense of accomplishment. (2) The emotional experience in the pre-run stage manifests as excitement, expectation, worry, nervousness, etc; that in the running stage positive experience, separation and reflection, distortion of time experience, game of persistence and abandonment, experience of flow, success in challenge; that in the post-run stage the bittersweet experience and personal growth experience. (3) The emotional experience in the running stage is more complex and changeable, and is the core stage of emotional experience. The description of emotional experience in the post-run stage is similar to that in the pre-run stage, while the degree of emotional experience is stronger than that in the pre-run stage. The themes of the three stages are not completely independent, but are interconnected as a unity.

Key words: phenomenology, marathon, college students, emotional experience