Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance foot race over 42.195 kilometres, about 26.22 miles, usually run as a road race though it can be covered on trail routes. It can be completed by running or with a run and walk strategy, and there are wheelchair divisions. The Wikipedia lead says more than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, most of their competitors being recreational athletes, and the larger ones draw tens of thousands of participants. The race was devised by the French philologist Michel Breal, inspired by a story from Ancient Greece, and it was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896 in Athens, though the distance was not standardized until 1921. It is also contested at the World Athletics Championships, which began in 1983, and the article notes that the women's marathon joined the Olympic programme in 1984 and that the Boston Marathon, first run in 1897, is the oldest annual marathon.