the.com/marathon
a 26.2-mile celebration of a man who ran the distance once and immediately died
means A long-distance running race of 26.2 miles, or by extension any endurance event or prolonged session of any activity.
from Named for the Greek town of Marathon, site of the 490 BCE battle in which Athenians defeated the Persians. The popular legend says the messenger Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, gasped the news, and dropped dead — and that story inspired the modern race, invented for the first Olympics in 1896. The historical accounts are messier and the death is likely embellishment, but the name stuck. The town's own name may derive from 'marathon,' the Greek word for fennel, which grew on the plain.
- origin death
- Pheidippides delivered news, then dropped dead
- the .2
- added so royals could watch from a palace
- wall hits
- the body runs out of stored glycogen around mile 20
- slow record
- one runner finished Stockholm 1912 after 54 years
boston marathon — annual race in massachusetts since 1897, oldest continuously held marathon
berlin marathon — world record holder course, 4 world records set there since 2003
olympics marathon — 42.195km race at every summer olympics since 1896