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Do you enjoy running? Have you ever run long distances without stopping? Many people from all over the world enjoy running marathons which take them hours to complete. Running these large distances takes not only a lot of physical strength, but also a lot mental strength and stamina. Today, the standard length of a marathon is 26.2 miles. But how and why did this standard originate? There is actually a long and interesting story behind the origin of the marathon.

Back in ancient Greece in 490 B.C. a soldier named Pheidippides ran approximately 26 miles from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Unfortunately, Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run.

In 1896 when the modern Olympic Games began again in Greece, the marathon was one of the events. In fact, it was the last event of the entire games that year and was the first organized marathon which was run on April 10, 1896. The Greek historian Quercetani wrote about the event… “The excitement of the crowd waiting at the finish line at the ancient but refurbished Panathenaic Stadium was beyond description”. Nine nations competed at this first marathon with 25 runners in all…but only nine finished the whole race.

If you enjoy running…try running a whole marathon. But make sure you practice and only run short distances in the beginning.