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The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (c. 26 mi 385 yd), [1] usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy.
' Son of Pheídippos ') or Philippides (Φιλιππίδης) is the central figure in the story that inspired the marathon race. Pheidippides is said to have run 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of the victory of the Battle of Marathon, and, according to Herodotus, to have run from Athens to Sparta.
The race distance varied from 40 to 42 kilometres (25 to 26 mi) in the early editions as it was typically based upon the distance between two points that the organisers felt were suitable. The 1908 London Olympics marked the introduction of the standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km). [2]
How long is the Boston Marathon? The short answer is 26.2 miles. But why? And how long does that really take?
A marathon is always measured by the same distance: 26.2 miles, but the time it takes to finish depends on your fitness level, training and the course itself.
For the past 100 years, the Boston Marathon has started in Hopkinton before going through MetroWest and into Boston.
According to Joe Muldowney, at the time "most Americans had no idea what the marathon was, let alone its weird 26.2-mile distance. Some folks may have heard of the Boston Marathon, an event that had been held since 1897, but few Americans had the desire to tackle the race itself." [24] [25]
This distance (ignoring the word "about" in the phrase "about 26 miles plus 385 yards on the track") eventually became the origin of the modern Marathon distance of "no less than 42.195 km". According to the book The Marathon Makers by John Bryant, the first mile of the 1908 Olympic Marathon course was remeasured by John Disley in the late ...